As Xi Jinping heads to India, China calls for ‘strategic’ and ‘long-term’ view of ties — SkimNews
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- China's Foreign Ministry on Friday (Sept 11, 2026) said Beijing was willing to work with India to handle relations "from a strategic height and long-term perspective," one day before Xi Jinping's first trip to India in seven years.
- Prime Minister Modi and Xi Jinping are scheduled to hold talks Saturday (Sept 12) on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi — the third consecutive year of leader-level meetings following Kazan and Tianjin.
- Xi Jinping will "put forward China's important initiatives and propositions, charting the course for greater BRICS cooperation" at the summit, according to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning.
- CIIS expert Wang Youming told the official China Daily that Xi's trip is "one of the biggest highlights" and that the China-India relationship has "a direct bearing on the development" of the BRICS mechanism.
- China's Foreign Ministry positioned BRICS as "a real force standing at the forefront of the Global South" committed to multilateralism, fairness, and "common development," framing the bloc as central to Beijing's diplomatic vision.
- In Chinese commentary, Xi's visit is seen as both an opportunity to continue the "gradual normalisation" of bilateral ties and to enable broader BRICS-level cooperation between the two countries.
Why it matters: Xi's first India visit in seven years — coming after two straight years of leader-level meetings — signals a visible thaw from the post-Galwan border standoff era, with both governments now using BRICS to scaffold bilateral engagement. The diplomatic language of "strategic" and "long-term" framing obscures a competitive dimension: Xi arrives with a stated BRICS agenda to advance China's Global South leadership, making New Delhi a stage for both reconciliation and rivalry.
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