(TibetanReview.net, Sep10’26) – China has refused to confirm even today (Sep 10) whether President Xi Jinping will visit India for the BRICS summit taking place in New Delhi over Sep 12-13, even though it has long been scheduled, or at least strongly expected, to take place. The reason for this may be a hope to somehow dent plans by Tibetans and supporters to stage protests during his visit.
“Regarding the question you raised, I currently have no information to provide,” livemint.com Sep 10 quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun as saying, citing local media.
The statement posted by Chinese state media Global Times on X came as reports suggested that Xi is widely expected to be in Delhi this weekend for the annual BRICS summit, the report said.
Xi’s visit – if takes place – and his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be crucial to setting the future direction of bilateral ties as New Delhi and Beijing seek to cautiously rebuild ties following the prolonged tensions triggered by the 2020 Galwan clashes, the report said.
Xi’s visit would be his first trip to India in seven years and comes amid a cautious improvement in ties between the two countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China last year, while the two leaders also met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit earlier this month, said cnbctv18.com Sep 10.
BRICS is an intergovernmental forum which brings together eleven major emerging markets and developing countries of the world: Brazil, Russia, India, and China, the founding members, along with South Africa, which joined in 2011, followed by Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates in the following years. It serves as a useful platform for consultation and cooperation on contemporary issues having global as well as regional significance, and issues of global political and economic governance.
India holds the chair for 2026 under the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability,” hosting the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi.
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Meanwhile, five Tibetan organisations in Dharamsala have welcomed Xi’s visit in a joint open letter they released at a press conference on Sep 8, and called for a renewed Sino-Tibetan dialogue without preconditions. Expressing support for the Middle Way approach espoused by His Holiness the Dalai Lama decades ago and adopted by the exile Tibetan setup, The open letter said Tibetans and Han Chinese could coexist in peace, mutual respect and dignity.
The five organizations – the Central Tibet (U-Tsang) Regional Association, the Dhotoe Regional Association, the Dhomay Regional Association, the Central Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA), and the Global Tibetan People’s Movement for Middle Way Approach – called on Xi to use his visit as an opportunity to open a new chapter in Sino-Tibetan relations.
The “mutually beneficial” Middle Way approach envisages autonomy for an ethnically consolidated Tibetan territory under the sovereignty of the People’s Republic of China.
However, this approach is opposed by a section of Tibetans, spearheaded especially by the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), which calls for the restoration of Tibet’s full independence. Members of regional chapters of the TYC from Tibetan communities across India have reportedly planned to stage protests in Delhi during Xi’s visit.
Apart from the TYC, a group called Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) – which also supports independence for Tibet and has a network of international chapters – has regularly staged high-profile protests during visits of Chinese leaders.