Xi will attend BRICS summit, hold bilateral talks with Modi, Pg1

Key Highlights:

• Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the BRICS summit in New Delhi on September 12-13, marking his first visit to India in seven years.
• A bilateral meeting between President Xi and Prime Minister Modi is scheduled, their first in India since October 2019.
• The two nations are working towards launching a Strategic Economic Dialogue to address trade and investment issues.
• Discussions will include a review of the recent boundary talks between Special Representatives Ajit Doval and Wang Yi.

Detailed Insights:

• The BRICS summit, hosted by India for the fourth time, will be the 18th edition, with India's 2026 Chairship theme being "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability".
• The bilateral meeting aims to further restore ties following a prolonged military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
• The 25th round of Special Representatives talks in Beijing on August 25, 2026, led to agreements on establishing two new border military hotlines and two new meeting points for military commanders.
• Both leaders are expected to endorse decisions to advance discussions on an "early and substantial harvest" for boundary delimitation and border management.
• Previous meetings between Xi and Modi in October 2024 in Kazan and August 2025 in Tianjin contributed to troop disengagement along the LAC and stabilization of relations.
• Persistent issues include visa restrictions for Indian businesses, challenges in sharing transboundary river data, and China's perceived collusion with Pakistan during Operation Sindoor in May 2025.
• Geopolitical concerns such as energy security, the West Asia conflict, the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the impact of US tariff policies are also on the agenda.

Key Concepts Involved:

• BRICS: An intergovernmental organization of major emerging economies, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, focused on economic cooperation and global governance.
• Line of Actual Control (LAC): The de facto boundary separating Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory in the India-China border dispute.
• Special Representatives: High-level envoys appointed by India and China to engage in dialogue for resolving the boundary question and other bilateral issues.
• Strategic Economic Dialogue: A high-level bilateral mechanism designed to foster economic cooperation, address trade imbalances, and promote investment between two countries.
• Operation Sindoor: A military operation launched by India in May 2025, targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.