Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi was the third between the two leaders in three years. Under the strategic guidance of the two leaders, China-India relations have gradually emerged from a low ebb, moving from a new start to further improvement.
The Kazan meeting in October 2024 marked the restart. After years of friction, the two leaders reaffirmed a fundamental truth: China and India are not rivals by destiny, but neighbours by geography and partners by interest. President Xi framed the relationship as a question of how two countries of over 1.4 billion people each can live side by side in harmony and pursue common development.
Results followed. Border areas returned to tranquillity. High-level dialogues resumed. Indian pilgrims once again travelled to Mount Kailash and Manasarovar. The relationship was, as a Chinese official put it, “returning to the main channel of cooperation”.
The Tianjin meeting in August 2025 on the sidelines of the SCO Summit marked the second phase: elevation. This was not merely about managing differences but deepening partnership. President Xi told Prime Minister Modi that being “good neighbours and friends, partners who achieve mutual success, and realising the ‘dragon-elephant dance’” should be the correct choice for both.
The two sides identified development as their greatest common denominator. Foreign ministers reached a 10-point consensus, including mutual support for each other’s diplomatic events—India for the 2026 BRICS Summit and China for 2027. Trade volumes hit new highs. People-to-people exchanges reawakened. Tianjin proved the relationship could move beyond crisis management toward positive agenda-setting.
The New Delhi meeting this month represents the third phase: consolidation and normalisation. For the first time in seven years, a Chinese head of State visited India. The fact that the two leaders have now met three times in succession signals that summit diplomacy has become an institutionalised feature of the relationship, not an occasional exception.
In New Delhi, President Xi offered four guiding principles: calibrating direction with objective and rational strategic cognition; achieving mutual success through win-win cooperation; removing disturbances with political wisdom of mutual respect and accommodation; and benefiting the world through open and inclusive multilateral collaboration. The message was clear: Beijing sees New Delhi as a partner and is prepared to invest in that partnership for the long haul.
China has always viewed and developed its relations with India from a strategic height and with a long-term view. As two major ancient civilisations, China and India should demonstrate sufficient wisdom and capacity to maintain and develop their bilateral ties.
The two countries offer each other development opportunities, not threats. This strategic judgement is based on the development stages of the two countries and the international environment, and serves the common interests of both countries and their peoples.
It is expected that China and India will maintain the right direction in the development of their relationship, advance exchanges and cooperation in various fields, promote the steady and sustained development of ties, and make due contributions to the cause of human progress.
How, then, does Beijing see BRICS evolving under China’s chairmanship next year? The answer lies in the vision of a ‘Golden BRICS’. As the grouping enters its third decade, China believes the mechanism must evolve from a talking shop into a platform of action that delivers tangible benefits for the Global South.
Under China’s chairmanship, expect three priorities: first, deepening economic cooperation through expanded local-currency trade settlement, infrastructure investment, and supply-chain resilience; second, strengthening institutional capacity by making BRICS more inclusive and representative, giving developing nations a greater voice in global governance; and third, advancing practical cooperation on shared challenges—climate change, food and energy security, the digital divide, and public health. The goal is not to build a bloc against anyone, but to create a platform where developing countries can help themselves and each other.
Equally important is the growing alignment between SCO and BRICS. These are not competing architectures but complementary ones. The SCO, with its focus on regional security, counter-terrorism and Eurasian connectivity, provides the stability framework; BRICS, with its broader global membership and economic agenda, provides the development engine. Together, they create a strategic ecosystem in which security and development reinforce each other—a principle China has long championed.
For India, this alignment means its engagement in one forum can amplify its influence in the other. The Tianjin SCO Summit and New Delhi BRICS Summit, held within 13 months, have already demonstrated this synergy.
None of this means differences have vanished. The boundary question remains complex. Strategic mistrust cannot be wished away. But the three summits have shown something cynics on both sides doubted: that with sustained top-level engagement, even the most difficult relationships can be stabilised, and even the deepest suspicions can begin to soften.
Twenty years ago, we spoke of the dragon and elephant dancing together. Today, that dance is no longer a metaphor but a work in progress—tentative, sometimes awkward, but unmistakably real. The task now is to keep the music playing.
As major members of the Global South, China and India shoulder the international responsibility of setting an example in seeking strength through unity for developing countries, and contributing to advancing world multipolarity and the democratisation of international relations. Both countries should work together to advance high-quality development of greater BRICS cooperation and provide more positive energy for global peace, stability, development and prosperity.
Ren Yan | Senior Editor at the People’s Daily in China who served as its India correspondent for five years
(Views are personal)