China announced Thursday President Xi Jinping’s first visit to India in 7 years, saying he will attend the Brics summit in New Delhi from September 12 to 13 at the invitation of PM Narendra Modi. His bilateral with Modi is scheduled for Saturday evening, according to diplomatic sources.TOI has learnt that Xi will be accompanied by a 67-member government delegation, including political heavyweight and Xi’s right-hand man Cai Qi – member of the standing committee of the CPC Politburo – and foreign minister Wang Yi. A business delegation is arriving separately for the president’s visit that will last exactly for 24 hours, beginning with Xi’s arrival at 12.10 pm on Saturday and 12.20 pm departure the next day.Xi will arrive at Bharat Mandapam around 2 pm on Saturday, where he and other leaders will be welcomed by Modi. The bilateral meeting between the leaders is likely to take place between the Brics closed session on multilateralism and the dinner that Modi will host for the leaders at 7.30 pm in which Xi will also be present.There has been speculation about why Beijing delayed the announcement of the visit, but it’s learnt that China had formally conveyed to the Indian side Xi’s participation weeks earlier. On August 27, China officially requested the Indian embassy in Beijing to issue visas to the president’s delegation.Xi’s visit is expected to reinforce the positive momentum in bilateral ties since the meeting between the leaders on the margins of the BRICS summit in Kazan in 2024, which marked complete disengagement and resolution of issues related to the 2020 eastern Ladakh military standoff. Modi is expected to underline India’s concerns about fair market access, supply chain reliability and balance in bilateral trade in the meeting, as the 2 sides look to boost economic cooperation.The leaders had in Kazan agreed to restart high-level engagements, calling upon Special Representatives on the India-China boundary question to oversee the management of peace and tranquility in border areas, which India calls a prerequisite for overall development of ties, and to explore a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question. They also agreed to maintain contact at the level of foreign minister and other senior officials.Since then, the special representatives have thrice held boundary talks, with the latest meeting in August this year resulting in 8 outcomes that included a decision to finalise terms of reference for an early and substantial harvest of boundary delimitation and border management.
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Modi last year also visited China for the SCO summit, during which he also had a bilateral meeting with Xi. That visit too further solidified the thaw in ties, with both leaders agreeing that India and China are partners, not rivals. Xi’s visit is important for Beijing also as China assumes BRICS presidency next year, succeeding India’s chairship. The president had not travelled to Brazil last year for the BRICS summit.During his visit to Tianjin, Modi had also met Cai and shared his vision for bilateral relations and seeking his support to realise the vision of the two leaders. According to the Indian government, Cai had reiterated the Chinese sides desire to expand bilateral exchanges and further improve relations in line with the consensus reached between the two leaders.