# Xi lands in India, and the border is still the problem

> Xi Jinping's first India trip since 2019 puts a fragile thaw, a $112 billion trade gap, and a decades-old border dispute on one table.
- Title: Xi lands in India, and the border is still the problem · CNBC
- Summary: Xi Jinping's first India trip since 2019 puts a fragile thaw, a $112 billion trade gap, and a decades-old border dispute on one table. The Modi-Xi reset is…
- Keywords: india, china, brics, trade, geopolitics, business, finance, lands, border, still, problem, CNBC
- Source: CNBC — https://cnbc.com/2026/09/11/china-india-modi-xi-brics-meeting-agenda.html
- Author: Lim Hui Jie
- Published: 2026-09-11T04:29:20+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: india, china, brics, trade, geopolitics, business, finance
## Xi returns to India
Beijing confirmed Xi Jinping will attend the BRICS summit in India, his first visit since 2019 and since the deadly 2020 border clashes froze relations.
## The real test
A bilateral with Modi on the sidelines would be the clearest measure yet of whether the post-2020 reset between Asia's two biggest economies is more than atmospherics.

> It's a great opportunity to use the BRICS summit as an excuse to have a really substantive bilateral meeting.
## A border that never closed
The dispute dates back decades and produced a war in 1962. In August, Wang Yi and Ajit Doval made what analysts called notable progress on it.
## Signs of a thaw
Direct flights have resumed, border trade and Himalayan pilgrimages are back, and New Delhi has loosened rules on Chinese investment.
## Why India is hedging
Tariff fights with the second Trump administration pushed New Delhi to invest elsewhere: resource deals with Australia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan, trade deals with the UK and EU.

> Recent Indian government actions confirm India's continuing commitment to strategic hedging.
## Distrust in the mountains
Even mid-thaw, Beijing reportedly denied Indian Army access to key patrolling points in August and encroached on land in Arunachal Pradesh.
## BRICS can't fix this
Carnegie India's Sahai warns against inflated expectations. The bloc was built to reform global financial governance, not to settle territorial fights.

> It gets conflated with Russia and China's border issues, but that is not what the group is trying to solve.
## A record deficit
Total trade hit $151.1 billion in the year to March 2026, but India's deficit with China climbed to a record $112.16 billion, up from $99.21 billion.
## Dependence as leverage
India's green energy push runs on Chinese batteries, giving Beijing a lever to stall it. A think tank calls the export controls a national security challenge.
## Both sides hold back
India has restricted Chinese aluminium foil and electrical steel. China guards technology transfers as India grows into the world's second-largest phone maker.
## Key takeaway

The Modi-Xi reset is real but shallow: flights and pilgrimages have resumed while the border and the trade imbalance, the two things that actually matter, remain unsolved.