Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in New Delhi on September 12 for the BRICS summit and talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is Xi's first visit to India in seven years and comes after a gradual reopening of diplomatic and economic channels following the 2020 border crisis.
The optics matter, but the substance is harder. India and China have restored some flights, visas and political contact, yet large troop deployments remain near the disputed boundary and India continues to restrict Chinese investment in sensitive sectors.
For India, the challenge is to stabilise the border without allowing economic dependence in critical supply chains to become a strategic vulnerability. The summit gives both leaders a chance to manage competition, but not to pretend the underlying disputes have disappeared.
