NEW DELHI, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in the Indian capital on Saturday for the summit of leaders of the BRICS group of countries and talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian TV channels showed.
The visit is Xi’s first to India in seven years and comes as the Asian neighbours cautiously rebuild ties that were badly damaged after a military clash on their disputed Himalayan border in 2020 in which 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed.
Xi stepped out of his plane to a red carpet welcome and was greeted by women performing traditional Indian dances.
The Xi-Modi meeting, scheduled for Saturday evening, will be their third in three years, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said on Friday.
China “is willing” to work together with India, to view two-way relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, properly manage differences, and be “good neighbours and friends, as well as mutually supportive partners,” the spokesperson said.
BRICS includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
The summit is being held amid geopolitical tensions triggered by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, the Russia-Ukraine war and the disruption they have caused to global energy, trade and transport.
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee, Sakshi Dayal, Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Delhi and Laurie Chen in Beijing; Editing by YP Rajesh)
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