Xi visits India for the first time in seven years as ties slowly thaw

Chinese President Xi Jinping is in New Delhi for the BRICS summit, his first trip to India in seven years, where he is expected to hold bilateral talks with Indian leader Narendra Modi. The world's two most populous nations are working to repair a relationship that hit a low in 2020.

That year, deadly clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley, in the Himalayas, killed at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers, triggering a military stand-off and a deep diplomatic freeze. Trade and investment dropped, travel routes were cancelled, and political dialogue was suspended.

Ties began to thaw in 2024, when Xi and Modi met at the BRICS summit in Russia, and again in 2025 at a Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in China.

For Beijing, warming ties with Delhi is part of a wider push to project China as a stable global partner, ahead of Xi's expected Washington visit for talks with Trump this month.

Al Jazeera's Katrina Yu reports from Beijing.

Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera
Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/
Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/
Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile

#XiJinping #India #China #BRICS #Modi #NewDelhi #GalwanValley #Diplomacy #AlJazeeraEnglish