Thaw in ties deserves to be cherished, says Xi; border peace is essential: PM Modi
President Xi Jinping described the recent thaw in India-China relations as something that "deserves to be cherished," while Prime Minister Modi reiterated that border peace remains essential for the relationship, at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi on 12 September 2026.
The meeting marked Xi's first visit to India since the 2020 Galwan Valley clash, and followed the leaders' prior bilateral meeting on the margins of the SCO Summit in Tianjin in August 2025.
Both sides welcomed steady, incremental progress in ties and committed to continuing to observe existing border agreements while working toward a fair and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question.
The meeting coincided with other markers of normalisation, including resumption of some direct flight connectivity and easing of certain investment-related restrictions.
The Post-Galwan Disengagement Trajectory (2020-2024)
The Galwan Valley clash of June 2020 — the deadliest India-China military confrontation in decades — triggered a multi-year standoff across eastern Ladakh and froze high-level engagement. The years since have seen a step-by-step, friction-point-by-friction-point disengagement process, of which the 2026 BRICS meeting is the latest political milestone.
Key Details
- The June 2020 Galwan clash resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and, per Chinese acknowledgement, at least four Chinese soldiers — the first fatalities on the LAC in over four decades.
- Between 2020 and 2022, India and China negotiated phased disengagement at four friction points in eastern Ladakh: Galwan, Pangong Tso (north and south banks), and the Gogra-Hot Springs area.
- On 21 October 2024, the two sides reached a patrolling and disengagement agreement covering the remaining two friction points — the Depsang Bulge and the Charding-Ninglung Nala track near Demchok — restoring patrolling access last held before April 2020.
- Military-level disengagement has been paralleled by a slow resumption of diplomatic contact: the August 2025 Tianjin meeting was the first Modi-Xi bilateral since the standoff began, and the SR Mechanism resumed with its 25th round of talks in Beijing in August 2026.
Xi's description of the thaw as something to be "cherished" and the emphasis on "steady progress" reflects this cautious, incremental sequencing — disengagement (military) first, followed by gradual normalisation (diplomatic, then economic) — rather than a sudden reset.
Border Peace as a Precondition for Bilateral Normalisation
India's consistent diplomatic position since 2020 has been that the state of the border directly determines the state of the overall relationship — normalisation of trade, connectivity, and people-to-people exchange cannot proceed delinked from border peace. This doctrine was restated explicitly in the 2026 meeting.
Key Details
- The doctrine draws on the framework set by the 1993 Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the LAC and later reinforced after 2020, when India explicitly linked the pace of normalisation to disengagement outcomes.
- Steps cited alongside the 2026 political thaw — eased Chinese investment scrutiny (from March 2026) and resumption of some direct flights — illustrate the sequencing: military disengagement (2020-2024) preceding limited economic/connectivity normalisation (2025-2026).
- The BRICS Summit (established 2009 as BRIC with Brazil, Russia, India, China; South Africa joined in 2010) served only as the diplomatic venue for this bilateral exchange — a recurring pattern where leaders use multilateral summit margins for bilateral engagement without formally linking the bilateral relationship to the multilateral grouping's agenda.
The Modi-Xi exchange at BRICS 2026 is best read as a political checkpoint in a multi-year, sequenced normalisation process that began with military disengagement after Galwan, not as a new or standalone diplomatic event.
- The Galwan Valley clash occurred in June 2020; 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers were killed.
- Disengagement at four eastern Ladakh friction points was completed between 2020 and 2022; the final two (Depsang and Demchok) were resolved via the patrolling agreement of 21 October 2024.
- The prior Modi-Xi bilateral meeting was at the SCO Summit in Tianjin, China, in August 2025 — their first since the 2020 standoff began.
- The 25th round of India-China Special Representatives talks was held in Beijing in August 2026.
- BRICS was founded in 2009 (as BRIC); South Africa joined in 2010, forming BRICS.