The just-concluded BRICS summit in Delhi may not be remembered for a particularly muscular declaration. But to focus on that may miss its import for India. Did BRICS help a thaw in India-China relations?

India’s diplomatic achievement was not that it convened the summit — it was anyway the BRICS chair — but that it managed to hammer out a common declaration among countries whose interests frequently collide. Iran and the UAE could sit around the same table despite their tensions; China could sign a statement condemning the Pahalgam terror attack; and members could agree on a dialogue in West Asia despite sharply different alignments. India had managed something similar during its G20 presidency in 2023, when it found consensus language despite bitter divisions over Ukraine.

The Modi-Xi meeting on the sidelines of the summit was more important than the communique. Xi was visiting India for the first time in seven years. The two leaders discussed business links, market access, the structural trade imbalance, people-to-people exchanges and the official readouts made careful references to jointly promoting border peace. It would be foolish to call this reconciliation, but it is certainly an opportunity.

India and China are neighbours, together accounting for more than one-third of humanity. Geography cannot be wished away. Nor will their border dispute disappear anytime soon. Deng Xiaoping’s famous advice to Rajiv Gandhi in 1988 remains relevant: if our generation lacks the wisdom to solve the boundary question, let us leave it to a wiser future generation.

That does not mean forgetting Galwan, where 20 Indian soldiers died in 2020. The border must be strongly defended. But the border can stay cold without freezing the entire relationship.

Also Read: Where India stands after the BRICS dance

Indeed, India and China are........

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