Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to attend next month’s BRICS summit in New Delhi with a large delegation, according to three sources, in what would be his first visit to India in seven years and a fresh indication of improving ties between the two countries.
India is due to host the September 12 to 13 summit, but Xi’s possible presence is expected to attract attention beyond the BRICS agenda. His visit would carry particular significance for efforts by Beijing and New Delhi to stabilise relations after deadly border clashes in 2020 and a prolonged military standoff that followed.
“Chinese officials are busy finalising hotels and security protocols,” one Indian source with direct knowledge told Reuters.
Two other Indian sources said Xi was likely to be accompanied by a delegation of about 400 officials, more than twice the fewer than 200 officials who travelled with him the last time he visited India in 2019. The scale of the delegation would add to the diplomatic significance of a visit that could provide an opportunity for both sides to widen engagement while continuing to manage major differences.
Last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China for the first time in seven years, but relations have improved only gradually. More recently, a fresh border-related dispute prompted sharp diplomatic exchanges between the two countries, highlighting the fragility of the rapprochement.
Officials from India and China are expected to use the BRICS summit to explore ways to expand engagement while managing longstanding disagreements over the border and regional security issues, the sources said. Xi’s final travel plans, however, have not been confirmed, and the agenda for any potential bilateral meeting between the two leaders remains undecided.
China’s foreign ministry stopped short of confirming the visit. “China attaches great importance to and actively participates in BRICS cooperation, and supports India, the current chair, in successfully hosting this year’s BRICS summit,” it said. “We currently have no information available to provide” about Xi’s visit.
Xi did not attend the previous BRICS summit, held in Brazil in 2025. India’s foreign ministry did not comment on the reports of his possible attendance.
The backdrop to the expected meeting is a border dispute that has tested relations between the world’s two most populous nations for decades. India and China, both nuclear powers, share a roughly 3,800-km (2,400-mile), largely undemarcated and disputed border in the Himalayas.
Decades of relative peace along the frontier were shattered by clashes in 2020 in which 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed. The confrontation developed into a four-year military standoff before the two sides reached a disengagement pact in October 2024.
Yet the border remains a central measure of the state of the relationship. On August 12, India said peace along the border was critical to ties after reports that Indian and Chinese army patrols had come face-to-face in late July near a remote border area.
Against that backdrop, India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval began a visit to Beijing on Monday to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for talks on the boundary issue. The discussions come as both governments seek to manage tensions while exploring the possibility of broader engagement.
India and China remain strategic competitors, but the sources said U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies had created an area of convergence between the two countries. In that context, Xi’s possible appearance in New Delhi would carry significance beyond the summit itself, signalling that neither Beijing nor New Delhi wants external pressure to undermine cooperation through BRICS.
Whether the visit ultimately takes place, and whether it produces a substantive bilateral engagement, remains uncertain. But Xi’s return to India after seven years would place the state of India-China relations firmly at the centre of attention as both sides attempt to turn a fragile thaw into a more stable relationship.
