Xi Jinping Arrives in New Delhi for BRICS Summit Amid Border Thaw

The reception at the airport featured a red carpet and traditional dance performances, a choreographed display of diplomacy intended to soften the atmosphere before formal talks. Xi and Modi are scheduled to meet Saturday evening, marking their third encounter in as many years. This frequency underscores a cautious, incremental effort to manage the friction between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

Beyond bilateral tensions, the summit gathers the BRICS bloc—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—at a moment of intense global instability. With the group considering expansion to include nations like Egypt and the UAE, the meeting serves as a forum to navigate the economic and security fallout of the Russia-Ukraine war and the escalation between Israel and its adversaries. For New Delhi and Beijing, the summit is a test of whether shared economic interests can outweigh deep-seated territorial grievances.