Wang Yi Urges India Ties 'Without Backsliding' at BRICS — SkimNews
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- Wang Yi told state media that the leaders of India and China reached "an important consensus" at the September 12, 2026 BRICS Summit meeting in New Delhi that the two countries should be partners, with Beijing hoping the summit would see ties advance "without stagnation or backsliding."
- Xi Jinping, accompanying Wang on his BRICS trip to India, said China-India relations have "gradually emerged from a low point, progressing from a 'restart' to a 'renewed height'" under the two leaders' strategic guidance.
- Wang Yi called for both nations to "remain partners rather than rivals" and urged India to join China in "translating the leaders' shared consensus into action," his "backsliding" warning reflecting the view among some that normalization over the past three years has unfolded "in fits and starts."
- Wang Yi said the border issue "should be placed in the appropriate position within the broader context of the bilateral relationship" — a framing in tension with India's stated position that maintaining "peace and tranquility on the borders" is the basis for resuming broader exchanges.
- The New Delhi meeting was the third encounter between the two leaders in three years; ties have gradually normalized since their October 2024 meeting in Kazan that ended a roughly four-year freeze.
Why it matters: Wang's 'backsliding' warning exposes a substantive gap between China's desire to decouple the border dispute from broader economic engagement and India's insistence that border tranquility is the precondition for normalization. With three leader-level meetings since 2024 yielding no breakthrough on stalled exchanges, BRICS has become Beijing's chosen venue to publicly press New Delhi for movement.
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