When the BRICS summit gets underway tomorrow in India, the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be among the most keenly watched events. Beijing confirmed Xi's attendance at the event on Thursday, marking the Chinese president's first visit to India since 2019, and since ties deteriorated following deadly border clashes in 2020. "This is a really crucial moment," Vrinda Sahai, research analyst in the Security Studies Program at Carnegie India, told CNBC. "It's a great opportunity to use the BRICS summit as an excuse to have a really substantive bilateral meeting." The meeting comes amid thawing relations between New Delhi and Beijing, and follows Modi's visit to China last year for the SCO summit , although border disputes and trade imbalance remain sticking points between the the two countries. Border issues between New Delhi and Beijing are expected to be on the agenda, a dispute that goes back decades and saw the two countries go to war in 1962. While the 2020 conflict plunged relations into a deep freeze, the relationship between the two sides has improved markedly over the past year. "The meeting between Modi and Xi is likely to further advance the ongoing reset in bilateral relations and build confidence. A meeting in August between the Chinese foreign minister and Indian national security advisor made notable progress on their longstanding border dispute," Chietigj Bajpaee, senior research fellow for South Asia at Chatham House, said in an article earlier this week. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and India National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had met in August , and "expressed satisfaction at the steady resumption of people-to-people and cross-border exchanges" including border trade and pilgrimages through Himalayan passes. Signaling improving ties, India and China have resumed direct flights, with New Delhi also relaxing rules around Chinese investment in India. New Delhi's rapprochement with China come as relations with the second Trump administration have been strained over trade and tariffs, leading India to proactively invest in other relationships. Modi and Xi met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Kyrgyzstan last week, and signed the Bishkek Declaration along with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other members, condemning military attacks against Iran, without naming the U.S. Experts previously told CNBC that they expect New Delhi to use its presence at the SCO and BRICS summits to highlight the strength of its multi-polar alignment. The 11-member bloc also includes Iran, with President Masoud Pezeshkian set to attend the summit. Bajpaee said "recent Indian government actions confirm India's continuing commitment to strategic hedging." He pointed at resources deals the country had struck with Australia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan, and trade deals with the United Kingdom and European Union. However, in a sign that distrust between India and China continues despite a thaw in relations, Beijing in August reportedly denied Indian Army access to key patrolling points and encroached on land in the northeastern Indian border state of Arunachal Pradesh. Carnegie India's Sahai said that it...
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