China’s Xi heads to India for BRICS summit overshadowed by wars

Chinese President Xi Jinping has left Beijing for New Delhi to attend the 18th BRICS summit, joining leaders from India, Russia and Iran as the grouping grapples with multiple geopolitical crises. Organisers said the two-day meeting will focus heavily on the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, alongside rising trade turbulence and concerns over energy security that are pressing many member states.

Xi's delegation includes Foreign Minister Wang Yi and senior Communist Party official Cai Qi. The visit marks his first trip to India since 2019 and is being watched as a significant step in a tentative improvement in ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. New contacts have restored flights, visas and high-level exchanges, but a deep mistrust persists because of an unresolved territorial dispute along their high-altitude frontier.

The Himalayan boundary remains heavily militarised after a deadly clash in 2020, and both sides maintain large deployments along the roughly 3,500-kilometre (2,175-mile) frontier. Beijing said it was "ready to work with India … by strengthening communication, enhancing cooperation, and properly handling differences," and Indian officials said Xi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would meet face-to-face during the summit. Analysts told AFP that New Delhi and Beijing are seeking "early and substantial harvest" on the border issue while balancing people-to-people and economic ties with security concerns.

The summit has already drawn high-level arrivals: Russia's Vladimir Putin and Iran's Masoud Pezeshkian reached New Delhi ahead of the meeting. Modi held talks with both leaders; with Iran's president he stressed the need to protect freedom of navigation and commerce and the safety of ship crews. India has partially navigated an energy squeeze tied to the United States-Iran tensions by increasing purchases from Russia, despite Moscow's war in Ukraine and diplomatic pressure from Western capitals.

BRICS, founded in 2009 as a forum for major emerging economies seeking greater influence in global institutions, now faces a test of cohesion as members weigh immediate security crises against longer-term goals for trade and cooperation. The summit will be watched for any collective positions or practical measures on energy, trade flows and responses to the conflicts shaping the global agenda.