Modi, Xi Hold BRICS Talks as India-China Ties Thaw — SkimNews
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- Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping will hold talks Saturday at the BRICS summit in New Delhi — Xi's first India visit in seven years — marking the latest step in normalizing bilateral ties since the 2020 Galwan clash.
- The June 2020 Galwan Valley clash — the first deadly India-China military confrontation since 1975 — killed at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers after Indian troops set fire to tents and observation towers they said were built on their side of the disputed Himalayan border.
- New Delhi and Beijing responded with tit-for-tat retaliation: India banned popular Chinese apps, severed direct passenger flights, and tightened scrutiny of Chinese investments and business visas, while Beijing tightened curbs on journalist and businessperson exchanges.
- India and China signed a disengagement pact in October 2024, pulling troops back from five confrontation points and completing the withdrawal from the remaining two locations by December, restoring the 2020 status quo along the roughly 3,800-km disputed border.
- Trade ties have rebounded — India resumed direct flights to China, eased business visa approvals, and sourced $132 billion in imports from China in FY2025/26, including over 100 products deemed critical to Indian factories in electronics and infrastructure.
- China's indirect role in India's 2025 four-day conflict with Pakistan, where Pakistan relied heavily on Chinese-made fighter jets and missiles, continues to complicate normalization alongside New Delhi's national-security restrictions on Chinese investment in finance, defence, and telecom.
Why it matters: India's $132 billion import dependence on China — covering over 100 products deemed critical to domestic factories — creates a structural tension with New Delhi's national-security restrictions on Chinese investment in finance, defence, and telecom. Easing visa and procurement bottlenecks helps Indian manufacturers, but the military standoff and Pakistan-linked complications remain unresolved.
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