Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in the national capital on Saturday for a two-day visit to attend the BRICS Summit, marking his first trip to India in seven years in a move expected to provide fresh momentum to bilateral relations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Xi on Saturday evening, with the meeting slated for 6 pm.
Xi was received at Delhi airport by Union Minister Jitin Prasada, while cultural artistes performed traditional dances to welcome the Chinese President.
People familiar with the matter said the visit provides an important opportunity to further normalise relations between the two countries, which came under severe strain following the military standoff in eastern Ladakh.
Xi’s visit comes after several high-level exchanges between India and China, including the recent Special Representatives’ dialogue in Beijing between National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. However, concerns remain in New Delhi over Chinese military activity along the Arunachal Pradesh sector.
The Chinese President is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising senior government officials and business leaders.
Over the past year, India and China have introduced a series of confidence-building measures aimed at repairing ties strained by the prolonged military standoff in eastern Ladakh.
During their meeting, Modi and Xi are expected to review the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and explore further steps to normalise bilateral relations, including expanding trade and investment ties, people familiar with the matter said.
Modi and Xi last held wide-ranging talks on August 31 last year on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China.
In recent months, the two sides have taken several measures to rebuild relations following the deadly Galwan Valley clashes in 2020, which triggered a prolonged military standoff along the LAC.
Doval held Special Representatives’ talks with Wang in Beijing late last month. The discussions focused on issues including the delimitation of the India-China boundary, trans-boundary cooperation and maintaining peace and tranquillity along the LAC.
Doval and Wang are the designated Special Representatives for the boundary talks mechanism, established in 2003 to seek a comprehensive solution to the India-China border dispute, which stretches for 3,488 km.
(With inputs from PTI)
