Chinese President Xi Jinping will be visiting India over this weekend to attend the 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi, the government has confirmed, efectively ending days of heavy diplomatic suspense.
"At the invitation of Prime Minister of the Republic of India Narendra Modi, President Xi Jinping will attend the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi from September 12 to 13," China's foreign ministry statement read.
Earlier in the day, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jia-kun refused to provide any confirmation on Xi's visit to New Delhi.
"I have no information to provide regarding the question you raised," Guo Jiakun replied to a question on if the Chinese leader will be travelling to India this weekend to attend the BRICS leaders' meeting.
The high-stakes visit marks Xi's first visit to India in seven years, following a chill in bilateral relations after the 2020 Galwan Valley border clashes that killed 20 Indians and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers. The last time Xi visited India was in 2019 for an informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mamallapuram near Chennai.
Xi had first come to India in September 2014 when it was the first terms of both the leaders in office and had later visited Goa in 2016 to attend the BRICS summit.
India And China Are "Partners, Not Competitors"
Bilateral ties between the two nations have improved in recent years, especially since PM Modi visited China last year and as both nations grapple with volatile relationships with the US. New Delhi has since then eased some of the restrictions on Chinese investment that it imposed following the 2020 clashes, focusing on electronics, capital goods, and solar cell sectors.
China's foreign ministry told Reuters that Xi and PM Modi, who briefly met this month at a regional forum in Kyrgyzstan, think the two countries are "partners, not competitors, and they represent opportunities, not threats, for each other's development".
Sources told news agency Reuters that Chinese companies' proposed investments in India are facing more scrutiny from Beijing itself, including in sectors where sophisticated manufacturing and high-end technology may be involved.
Despite that, the bilateral trade between the two nations last year rose 12.4 per cent to a record $155 billion, more than double the $71.6 billion reported 10 years earlier, according to Chinese customs data.
In the first seven months of this year, trade further jumped a 23 per cent compared with the same period a year ago.
