Xi to visit India for 24 hours as Modi, Beijing weigh trade reset and border tensions
Chinese President Xi Jinping will land in India on Saturday for a tightly packed 24-hour visit that puts trade and the long-running Himalayan border dispute
Chinese President Xi Jinping will land in India on Saturday for a tightly packed 24-hour visit that puts trade and the long-running Himalayan border dispute back at the center of talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It will be Xi’s first trip to India since 2019, and his first face-to-face meeting with Modi in years.
China confirmed Xi’s attendance at the BRICS summit in New Delhi on Thursday, ending weeks of speculation over whether the visit would happen. Diplomatic sources said the bilateral meeting with Modi is scheduled for Saturday evening, on the sidelines of a summit that will draw leaders from across the bloc.
A brief visit, heavy agenda
Xi is expected to arrive at 12:10 p.m. on Saturday and leave at 12:20 p.m. the next day, according to the source material, with the visit lasting exactly 24 hours. He will be accompanied by a 67-member government delegation that includes Cai Qi, a close aide and member of the standing committee of the Communist Party’s Politburo, as well as Foreign Minister Wang Yi. A separate business delegation is travelling for the trip.
Xi is due at Bharat Mandapam around 2 p.m., where Modi and other leaders will receive him. The Modi-Xi bilateral is likely to take place between the BRICS closed session on multilateralism and a dinner Modi will host for visiting leaders at 7:30 p.m., where Xi is also expected to be present.
Trade pressure meets border politics
The meeting carries clear economic weight. China remains India’s largest trading partner, but the gap has widened sharply, with India’s trade deficit with China reaching a record $112.16 billion in the year ended March 2026, according to the source material. Bilateral trade also hit a record $151.1 billion over the same period.
That imbalance has sharpened New Delhi’s push for better market access. India still relies on Chinese supplies in strategic sectors, and any shift in the talks could matter well beyond the two countries, especially for supply chains and commodity markets.
The border remains the political fault line. Ties between the two Asian powers soured after deadly clashes in 2020, and while both sides have resumed flights, border trade and people-to-people exchanges, the disputed Himalayan frontier still hangs over every attempt at a reset.
BRICS backdrop
The Modi-Xi meeting comes as India hosts the BRICS summit and as China prepares to take over the chairship next year. Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ahead of the summit, leaving Xi as the most closely watched bilateral on the schedule.
For now, the visit is short. The stakes are not. As one analyst told CNBC, it is “a really crucial moment” and “a great opportunity” to use the summit for a substantive bilateral meeting.