‘China Values Modi’s Statements’: Beijing Hails India’s Independent Foreign Policy After PM-Xi Meeting at BRICS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Chinese President Xi Jinping during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi that India follows an independent foreign policy and that its ties with China are not influenced by any third country, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday.

China said it valued Modi’s remarks, made during the meeting two days earlier, when the two leaders welcomed “steady progress” in bilateral relations. The talks marked Xi’s first visit to India in seven years.

China Welcomes Modi’s Message On Foreign Policy

Guo said the “most important consensus” reached during the meeting was that China and India should be partners, according to a statement issued by China’s ministry of foreign affairs.

Beijing also welcomed Modi’s comments on India’s strategic autonomy.

“Prime Minister Modi said that India has an independent foreign policy, developing relations with China is not affected by any third party and that it will not allow any force to engage in anti-China activities on its territory. China values Prime Minister Modi’s statements,” the Chinese foreign ministry said.

Xi said that although China and India have different national realities, the two countries should draw on each other’s strengths and support each other’s development, Guo said.

“To promote the steady and sustained development of China-India relations, both sides need to calibrate the direction with an objective and rational strategic perception,” he said.

Guo added that the two sides should address their differences through “mutual respect and mutual understanding” while expanding cooperation.

What India Said On Modi-Xi Meeting

India said after the meeting that maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas was the “essential basis” for improving ties with China.

Modi also stressed that both sides should observe existing agreements and understandings on border-related issues, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

The two leaders “expressed commitment to a fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question proceeding from the political perspective of their overall bilateral relations and the long-term interests of the two peoples”, the ministry said.

“Differences should not become disputes. Prime Minister [Modi] highlighted that both sides must be guided by three mutuals – mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest,” the Indian readout said.

The meeting came amid fresh tensions between Indian and Chinese troops in the remote Taksing region of Arunachal Pradesh, with reports of face-offs in July and August.

India and China had reached an understanding in October 2024 to disengage troops from “friction points” in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The move ended a more than four-year military standoff that had pushed bilateral relations to their lowest point in decades.