Share your story and shine at JK Monitor!🌟 Welcome to JK Monitor, where every story matters and every achievement is celebrated! We invite you to share the remarkable journey of your life and showcase your accomplishments to the world. Join our exclusive interviews that honor exceptional individuals just like you. The BRICS Summit in New Delhi has brought together three major global leaders Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping creating an important moment for international diplomacy. For India, the summit is an opportunity to demonstrate its policy of strategic autonomy maintaining strong ties with Russia while engaging China despite years of tension.
The Modi-Putin-Xi meeting has attracted particular attention. India and Russia continue to share close strategic ties, while India's relationship with China has been gradually improving after the tensions and border clashes of 2020. The recent diplomatic engagement between Modi and Xi could signal another step toward stabilising bilateral relations.
Can India and China become friends again?
The answer is uncertain, but there are signs of a cautious thaw.
India and China have taken steps to reduce tensions along the border, while discussions on restoring direct flights, trade and people-to-people connections indicate a desire to normalise relations. However, the border dispute, strategic competition and mutual distrust remain major challenges.
Therefore, the New Delhi meeting should not be seen as an immediate return to friendship. Instead, it may represent the return of dialogue and engagement between the two Asian powers.
For Modi's government, the challenge will be to balance cooperation with China while protecting India's strategic and security interests. At the same time, both countries have strong economic and geopolitical reasons to prevent another deterioration in relations.
The image of Modi, Putin and Xi together in New Delhi therefore carries a larger message. India is positioning itself as an independent diplomatic power capable of engaging with competing global blocs.
If the current momentum continues, the 2026 BRICS Summit could eventually be remembered as an important step toward rebuilding India-China trust not necessarily as the return of an old friendship, but as the beginning of a more pragmatic relationship based on dialogue, mutual interests and strategic realism.
(Keshav Sharma - kesha18sharm18@gmail.com)