India-China Relations — The Cautious Reset
India and China are inching through a guarded thaw. After the deadly 2020 Galwan clash froze ties, the two armies pulled back from the last friction points in eastern Ladakh under an October 2024 understanding, and the two capitals have since restarted pilgrim travel, air links and long-stalled talks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping met in New Delhi on 12 September 2026, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit India chaired, where Modi set out three mutuals - respect, sensitivity and interest - and the two agreed that differences should not become disputes. Yet the reset stays cautious: troops massed since 2020 still await genuine de-escalation, India rejects Chinese claims over Arunachal Pradesh, the planned Brahmaputra mega-dam alarms downstream India, mineral curbs bite, and on 16 September 2026 India rejected a Pakistan-China boundary commission as legally invalid.
- India-China relations
- LAC
- Depsang
- Demchok
- Yarlung Tsangpo
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Kailash Mansarovar Yatra
- critical minerals
- flag meeting
- Wacha
- Damai
- Line of Actual Control
- Modi-Xi meeting
- three mutuals
- Pakistan-China boundary
- BRICS 2026
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