Foreign & Public Diplomacy

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, Bangladesh faces the world’s worst measles outbreak as the death toll passes 1,000, and thousands of people remain missing after Nepal’s deadly floods.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, Bangladesh faces the world’s worst measles outbreak as the death toll passes 1,000, and thousands of people remain missing after Nepal’s deadly floods.

Modi, Xi Meet on BRICS Sideline

Over the weekend, Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled to India for the first time in seven years. Xi was in New Delhi for 24 hours to attend this year’s BRICS leaders’ summit, where he held a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An Indian Foreign Ministry statement said the two leaders pledged to strengthen commercial and cultural cooperation.

A more striking readout came from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who said that the bilateral meeting covered long-term, strategic issues and that Modi and Xi reached “the most important consensus” to be partners, not rivals. Beijing hopes the meeting will advance bilateral ties “without stagnation or backsliding,” Wang added.

These are positive words for a relationship between major competitors—and one that was plunged into deep crisis after a deadly 2020 border clash in the Ladakh region. But an India-China rapprochement has been playing out for nearly two years. Xi’s visit marked the culmination, not the commencement, of India-China detente.

Still, the extent of the thaw shouldn’t be overstated. Historically, India-China ties have had their moments, with ample heady talk and good optics. Invariably, fresh tensions have spoiled them; the two are destined to remain rivals by history, geography, and geopolitics.

In October 2024, the post-Ladakh tensions began to ease with the inking of a new border agreement. India and China subsequently made pledges to resume direct air flights and bolster commercial cooperation. In March 2025, Modi said on a podcast that cooperation with China was “essential” for........

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