At a 40-minute meeting that officials described as extremely positive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday stressed the need to further promote mobility and business linkages between the two countries to consolidate the recent rapprochement in ties and “greater win-win economic cooperation”. They also discussed addressing each other’s concerns regarding structural trade imbalance and supply chain issues, and facilitating meaningful and predictable market access.
At their meeting, Modi stressed that both sides must be guided by the three principles of mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest. The two welcomed the steady progress in relations since their last meeting (in Tianjin in August 2025), said India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a press release.
Modi and Xi reaffirmed that both countries should take a strategic and long-term perspective of their ties, and that differences should not become disputes. Modi emphasised that peace and tranquillity in the border areas remain an essential basis for the continued development of bilateral relations. He underlined the need for both sides to observe existing agreements and understandings on border-related issues. The two leaders expressed commitment to a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question, proceeding from the political perspective of their overall bilateral relations and the long-term interests of the two peoples.
On his first visit to India in seven years, Xi landed in New Delhi on Saturday afternoon to attend the Brics Summit. Modi and Xi met later in the day, their third structured bilateral in as many years after the tensions that marred relations in the aftermath of the clashes between the two militaries in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in mid-2020.
Modi and Xi’s October 2024 meeting in Kazan, Russia, on the sidelines of the 16th Brics Summit paved the way for an improvement in ties. They again met in Tianjin, China, on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit at the end of August 2025.
According to the readout from China’s official Xinhua News Agency, Xi said the thaw between the two sides “needs to be cherished,” alluding to the immense efforts that the two sides have put in to ensure the improvement in relations. “China and India are partners, not rivals,” representing “each other’s development opportunities, not threats,” Xi said. “Although the two countries have different national circumstances, they can certainly learn from each other’s strengths, make up for each other’s weaknesses, support one another, help each other succeed, and develop together,” Xi said, underscoring the importance of “greater win-win economic cooperation”, strategic assessment of the relations and more coordination on global issues.
“On economic and trade relations, they underlined the need to address each other’s concerns, including structural trade imbalance and supply chain issues, and facilitation of meaningful and predictable market access,” the MEA said. The two leaders agreed that both sides must continue to expand common ground on regional and global issues and in addressing challenges, it said.
India-China bilateral trade has grown exponentially, but has also led to the biggest single trade deficit India is running with any country. According to New Delhi, its trade deficit concerns with China are two-pronged. One is the actual size of the deficit. Second is the fact that the imbalance has continuously been widening year after year to reach $112.16 billion in FY26.
India’s predominant exports to China over the last five years have consisted of iron ore, light naphtha, p-xylene, shrimps and castor oil. Over time, these raw material-based commodities have been overshadowed by Chinese exports of machinery, electronics, personal computers, monolithic integrated circuits, parts of telephonic/telegraphic equipment, lithium-ion batteries and fertilisers, stated India’s Embassy in Beijing in a recent note. “We continue to engage the Chinese side for addressing market access issues,” it stated.
Xi’s New Delhi visit comes on the heels of the India-China Special Representative dialogue on the boundary issue in Beijing between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on August 25, where the two reached an eight-point consensus.
China takes over the presidency of Brics from India.
