Xi, Modi agreed both nations should be partners: Wang Yi

Why in the News

China and India should be partners. China’s Foreign Minister has described that as the most important consensus reached by the Chinese President and the Prime Minister when they met on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi. The meeting closed the Chinese President’s first visit to India in seven years, and it was the third leaders’ meeting since the border agreement of October 2024. The two sides agreed to jointly maintain peace and tranquility in border areas and to support each other as rotating chair of BRICS. What is unsettled is whether a relationship rebuilt through air links, pilgrimage routes and summit language holds while the boundary question itself stays where it is.

What did the two leaders agree on?

1. Border areas: The two leaders agreed to jointly maintain peace and tranquility in border areas.
2. BRICS chairmanships: Each country will support the other as rotating chair of the grouping. China takes over as BRICS chair for 2027.
3. Multilateral coordination: The two sides agreed to strengthen coordination within the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the G20.
4. A multipolar order: They agreed to advance cooperation across the Global South, promote a more multipolar world order, and act as a stabilising force in a period of global uncertainty.
5. Mutual development: The Chinese President said the two countries can draw on each other’s strengths, support one another and pursue common development.
6. Scale of the constituency: The improvement in relations has been welcomed by over 2.8 billion people of both nations, and is cast as an essential pillar of stronger cooperation across the Global South.

What terms has India set for the reset?

1. Independent foreign policy: India has an independent foreign policy and will not allow any force to engage in anti China activities on its territory. China’s Foreign Ministry cited that statement approvingly.
2. The three mutuals: Future ties are to be guided by mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest.
3. Differences and disputes: Differences should not be allowed to become disputes.
4. A new chapter: The Prime Minister described the talks as the beginning of a new chapter in bilateral relations.

Where does the boundary question sit in this framing?

1. Subordinated to the wider relationship: China’s Foreign Minister, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said the border issue should be viewed in proper perspective within the broader context of the bilateral relationship.
2. India’s stated approach: India has always approached relations with China from a strategic standpoint.
3. The sequence of meetings: The two leaders met at Kazan in Russia in 2024 and again in September 2025, and the New Delhi meeting was their third since the breakthrough in ties.
4. What the language covers: The agreed formulation extends to peace and tranquility in border areas, and carries no statement on the boundary itself.

How is connectivity between the two countries being restored?

1. Direct flights: China Southern Airlines announced the resumption of passenger services on the Guangzhou to New Delhi route from 21 September, after a six year break.
2. Why they had stopped: Direct air service was suspended after the Covid pandemic and after tensions following the Doklam and Galwan standoffs.
3. Pilgrimage route: The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra resumed in 2024, following the border understanding.

Challenges to the India China normalisation

1. Trade imbalance: India’s merchandise deficit with China is its largest with any trading partner, and it widens as electronics and machinery imports grow. Eg. Solar modules, electronic components and active pharmaceutical ingredients are sourced overwhelmingly from Chinese suppliers.
   The Fix: Tie any market access concession in the reset to measurable movement on the non tariff barriers facing Indian pharmaceutical and agricultural exports.
2. Border infrastructure asymmetry: Road, rail and airfield construction on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control outpaces India’s build out in the same sectors. Eg. The Sichuan Tibet railway and forward airfield upgrades opposite Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.
   The Fix: Hold the Border Roads Organisation’s project list to dated completion milestones reported annually.
3. Third country military supply: China’s defence supply relationship with Pakistan runs irrespective of the state of its relations with India. Eg. JF 17 combat aircraft and naval frigates supplied to Pakistan.
   The Fix: Raise third country military supply as a standing item in the Special Representatives dialogue rather than leaving it to summit level language.
4. Dependence on leader level understanding: The reset rests on understandings between two leaders rather than on an institutional mechanism that survives a crisis. Eg. The border agreements of 1993 and 1996 did not prevent the 2020 standoff in eastern Ladakh.
   The Fix: Require the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India China Border Affairs to report publicly after each round.

Conclusion

The relationship has been restored at the level of contact rather than at the level of the dispute. Flights, pilgrimages and chairmanship courtesies are reversible instruments, and each of them was withdrawn once already. The thing to watch is whether the standing border mechanisms meet and produce a recorded outcome before the next leaders’ meeting, because that is the only part of this reset that cannot be undone by a single incident.

Back2Basics: The border agreement of October 2024

1. An understanding between India and China on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh.
2. It addressed the friction points at Depsang and Demchok, where patrolling had been blocked since 2020.
3. It led to disengagement of troops at those points and the resumption of coordinated patrolling.
4. It reopened the space for leader level meetings and for the phased restoration of pilgrimage and travel links.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2014, GS2, 12.5 marks] With respect to the South China sea, maritime territorial disputes and rising tension affirm the need for safeguarding maritime security to ensure freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region. In this context, discuss the bilateral issues between India and China.”