Xi Set to Bring 400 Officials to New Delhi for BRICS as Beijing Also Restarts Military Talks With Canada

Since the October 2024 disengagement agreement eased the Himalayan standoff that followed the deadly 2020 Galwan Valley clash, China and India have been rebuilding contact step by step. That process continues toward a new milestone on September 12-13, when Xi Jinping is expected to travel to New Delhi for the 18th BRICS summit, his first visit to India in seven years.

According to Outlook Business, Xi is expected to bring roughly 400 officials, more than double the fewer-than-200-strong delegation that traveled with him on his 2019 India visit. An Indian source told Reuters that Chinese officials are busy finalizing hotels and security protocols. As of this reporting, the two governments are still working out travel logistics and whether Xi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a formal bilateral meeting on the sidelines.

India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met Chinese Vice President Han Zheng in Beijing on August 25 and is holding the 25th round of Special Representatives talks on the border question with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to a statement from the Embassy of India in China. The two sides discussed strengthening peace along the border and improving ties across economic, political and multilateral channels.

Trade Recovers, Trust Lags Behind

The economic numbers back up the diplomatic thaw. Chinese customs data cited by the Financial Times show bilateral trade hit a record $155 billion in 2023, up 12.4 percent, and rose another 23 percent year-on-year in the first seven months of 2024. India eased screening of Chinese investment in solar and electronics this year, according to the Financial Times, even as it keeps tighter restrictions on Chinese activity in IT.

Praveen Donthi of the Crisis Group told the Financial Times that multilateral forums like BRICS give both countries a platform to manage structural differences and a persistent trust deficit. Former Indian bureaucrat Amitabh Kant said the thaw has begun even if rebuilding confidence will take time.

Chinese commentary examined by The Print is more skeptical about how far this goes. Wang Youming of the China Institute of International Studies framed the summit as a chance for India to expand its Global South role amid cooling US relations, while other Chinese commentators described India as engaged in "multi-directional hedging," using closer ties with Washington to contain China and closer ties with Beijing and Moscow to avoid becoming what one commentary called a US "pawn." Multiple Chinese commentaries portrayed India as hosting BRICS on what is ultimately, in their framing, China's turf within the grouping rather than India's own.

Beijing Reopens a Second Front, in Canada

While India talks border peace, China's Ministry of National Defence announced on September 5 that it has resumed military-to-military talks with Ottawa, saying the two sides had "a candid and in-depth exchange of views" and expressed willingness to strengthen cooperation. Canada's Department of National Defence did not respond to a request for comment from the Epoch Times, and Ottawa has not publicly confirmed the substance of the talks.

The reopening followed a Chinese military delegation's presence in Victoria, alongside other Pacific nations, for the Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defense Conference held August 31 to September 2. Canada's Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Jennie Carignan, said she held no bilateral meetings with the Chinese delegation there, though she noted Ottawa is seeking a broader realignment in the relationship.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he wants a "strategic partnership" with Beijing that "sets us up well for the new world order." Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre countered that Carney called China Canada's top security threat during the 2025 election campaign and is now pursuing partnership with what Poilievre calls "the dictatorship there."

Margaret McCuaig-Johnston of the University of Ottawa's China Strategic Risks Institute said Canadians need clarity on "where exactly our guardrails are," warning against a strategic threat "traversing our waters with military weapons capacity." Scott McGregor, a former Canadian Armed Forces intelligence operator, told the Epoch Times that military cooperation with China is "not simply naive, it is strategically incoherent and potentially dangerous," given that China's intelligence apparatus is actively targeting allied nations.

Resuming defense-to-defense contact with a government Ottawa itself has labeled a top security threat, without public explanation of what safeguards apply, raises legitimate questions for any democracy's taxpayers and allies. No evidence in these reports shows Canada has disclosed the guardrails McCuaig-Johnston is asking for.

On the India side, the outstanding questions are simpler and more concrete: whether Xi and Modi will actually sit down together in New Delhi next week, and whether a resumed dialogue translates into a real settlement of the Line of Actual Control dispute that triggered Galwan in the first place. As of September 9, neither government has confirmed a bilateral meeting.