A Modi-Xi Meeting Could Signal a Thaw Between India and China

China’s apical leader, Xi Jinping, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India met officially for nan first clip successful much than 5 years connected Wednesday astatine a acme of emerging marketplace countries successful Russia, mounting nan shape for a imaginable thaw betwixt nan 2 Asian powers.

The convention came 2 days aft China and India reached a woody connected operating their shared Himalayan border, nan tract of a deadly conflict betwixt Chinese and Indian forces successful 2020. Relations betwixt Beijing and New Delhi person been frosty ever since, pinch India drafting person to nan United States done a location information grouping called nan Quad.

Mr. Xi and Mr. Modi are attending nan 16th yearly BRICS summit, a group of non-Western countries whose acronym stems from its earliest members: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It expanded this twelvemonth to see Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and nan United Arab Emirates, increasing to correspond almost half nan world’s population.

Established arsenic a counterweight to U.S.-led forums for illustration nan Group of 7 and intended to springiness processing countries much influence, BRICS has struggled to speak pinch a unified voice. That, successful nary mini part, is because of nan competing interests of its 2 biggest members.

China wants to usage nan grouping to weaken nan power of nan United States and burnish its credentials arsenic a leader of nan alleged Global South. India besides claims activity of nan Global South, but dissimilar China, does not want BRICS to create into an explicitly anti-Western body.

During a information array convention earlier connected Wednesday, nan leaders discussed a scope of issues, including creating financial platforms extracurricular nan scope of nan U.S. dollar. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia offered a connection to create a BRICS atom speech that could germinate into a commodities exchange. Russia is nan world’s largest wheat exporter, and its warfare successful Ukraine, different apical atom exporter, sent prices soaring successful 2022.