China and India should be partners - 2026-09-14
The meeting between President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday on the sidelines of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi underscored the importance of partnership and development, setting a pragmatic trajectory for Sino-Indian relations.
The two leaders emphasized the strategic importance of the relationship and stressed that the hard-won stability of ties illustrates the potential for further collaboration.
Both countries can draw on each other's strengths to pursue common development, supporting one another and helping each other succeed.
The meetings between Xi and Modi in recent years have contributed to the steadying of relations and prevented differences from affecting the overall relationship.
According to the General Administration of Customs of China, the bilateral trade in goods rose 12.4 percent year-on-year to hit a record high of $155.6 billion in 2025. China has re-emerged as India's largest trading partner in the 2025-26 Indian fiscal year. Their economies are also intertwined: Chinese industrial supplies underpin India's manufacturing, while India offers a vast market for Chinese goods.
Indeed, the relationship is too important to be left to drift, or be hijacked by suspicion or rivalry. How their bilateral ties evolve not only has a direct bearing on the well-being of the more than 2.8 billion people in the two countries, but also helps to shape the geopolitical situation of the region and beyond. Against the complex international landscape characterized by rising unilateralism and bloc confrontation, steady and constructive interaction between China and India is particularly valuable and necessary.
As the world's two most populous countries and major members of the Global South, China and India shoulder important responsibilities, as the healthy development of China-India ties helps strengthen Asian supply chains and amplifies the voice of the Global South.
China has always viewed and developed its ties with India from a strategic height and with a long-term perspective.
Xi called on the two sides to work together to promote high-quality development of "greater BRICS" cooperation, help each other succeed through win-win cooperation, expand people-to-people exchanges, and draw on political wisdom to overcome disruptions.
Xi urged both sides to pursue parallel progress in bilateral ties and border issues with the two tracks reinforcing each other. He also said the two countries should promote multilateral cooperation with openness and inclusiveness to benefit the world.
These views provide a forward-looking and pragmatic path for the two neighbors to deepen cooperation, handle differences and consolidate mutual trust.
In recent years, some external forces have repeatedly sought to instigate geopolitical competition by creating divisions among Asian countries, including between China and India. In this context, Modi's statement that China-India relations leave no room for manipulation by external geopolitical agendas and India is willing to be a partner rather than a rival to China is conducive to strengthening mutual trust, eliminating disturbances and safeguarding the positive atmosphere for bilateral engagement.
The two countries should translate the guidance of the meeting on Saturday into concrete actions. While managing existing differences properly through dialogue and negotiation, they should actively explore new potential for cooperation, and accumulate positive energy for long-term good-neighborly coexistence.
The two sides should balance and address each other's economic and trade concerns, and promote the sound and stable development of bilateral economic and trade ties, as Xi said.
In doing so, and by strengthening coordination within multilateral frameworks, China and India can bring greater development dividends to themselves and the world at large.
Source: China Daily
