Xi Jinping visits India after 7 years for BRICS:China says ready to work together to resolve differences; imports from China double since Galwan

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in India after seven years and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is Xi Jinping’s first visit to India since the Galwan clash. After attending the BRICS summit, he will hold a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Modi this evening. Before Xi Jinping arrived in India, China issued a statement saying, “We are ready to work with India by expanding dialogue and resolving our mutual differences.” Tensions rose in India-China relations after the Galwan clash on 15 June 2020, but trade did not stop. India’s imports from China were worth around $65 billion in 2020-21, rising to more than $132 billion in 2025-26. In other words, imports from China doubled after the Galwan clash. China’s no. 2 leader Cai Qi accompanies Xi Jinping to India Cai Qi has also arrived in India with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He is among the top seven leaders in China’s power structure. Because of the key responsibilities entrusted to him, Cai Qi is regarded as one of the country’s most powerful leaders after Xi Jinping. Cai Qi is the head of the General Office of the Communist Party’s Central Committee. This office handles the affairs of the party’s top leaders. It oversees their meetings, important documents and information-related work. This means that everything from deciding when senior leaders will meet and which meetings will be held to preparing the necessary documents and handling several other tasks is done through this office. Cai Qi heads this office. In other words, his work is directly linked to the day-to-day functioning of Xi Jinping and the party’s other senior leaders. This is why he is called Xi Jinping’s “de facto chief of staff”. Xi Jinping’s 18-foot-long Hongqi N701 Xi Jinping departed from Palam Airport in his special Hongqi N701. The special state limousine, measuring around 18 feet or 5.5 metres in length, was specially built for Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping came to India in 2019 In 2019, Prime Minister Modi welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the historic coastal town of Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram) in Tamil Nadu. The two leaders held informal discussions on bilateral relations while visiting ancient monuments such as the Pancha Rathas and the Shore Temple. During the visit, the two countries agreed to establish a high-level mechanism to reduce the trade deficit between them, build mutual trust and maintain peace along the border.