India and China are nuclear-armed neighbours and they share a roughly 3,800-km (2,400-mile), largely unmarked frontier.
But in terms of geo-politics cutting across regions and countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a rather pragmatic and more cautious approach.
It may even help make BRICS a bridge between the west and the developing world.
Chinese president Xi Jinping’s arrival for BRICS Summit and the healthy bilateral talks with PM Narendra Modi are seen as steps towards reconciliation after deadly 2020 military clash.
Ties between the nuclear-armed Asian giants have been warming recently, with flights and high-level contacts gradually being restored.
China was “willing” to work with India to properly manage differences and be “good neighbours and friends”, China’s foreign ministry said.
India has said that peace in the border areas remained an essential basis for the continued development of bilateral relations.
But there are hurdles and irritants as both countries continue to maintain substantial military deployments in the Himalayas.
Nevertheless, the border talks are making progress - at least steady.
China and India fought a brief but brutal border war in 1962, and their relationship soured again after the 2020 border skirmish at Galwan.
Ties began recovering at the end of 2024 after Xi and Modi agreed to end their military stand-off in the western Himalayas.
On Saturday, Sept 12, the bloc managed to unanimously agree on the wording of a joint declaration that pleases India in more ways than one. It condemned Pahalgam terror attack with China being a signatory leaving Pakistan high and dry.
The Declaration also reiterates a commitment to peaceful resolution of international disputes “through dialogue, consultation and diplomacy”. It seeks to fight for Brazil and India's entry into a greater role in the United Nations and also at the high table UNSC.
The “New Delhi declaration” called for “maximum restraint” in the Middle East, although it was worded so as not to call out member countries actively involved in conflicts.
Jiang Shixue of the China thinktank Council for BRICs cooperation said -- the 11 members “cannot speak with one voice on many issues”.
Hence pragmatism. A road mooted by New Delhi - Dialongue and Diplomacy.
“The only solution is to continuously strengthen political consensus,” he told the South China Morning Post.
Beijing and Delhi have differing views on the role of the group.
China has sought to expand Brics power as a counterweight to the US under Donald Trump’s leadership, which has launched global tariff and trade wars and retreated from multilateral institutions such as the UN, which afforded it international credibility.
India has taken a more cautious approach, seeing Brics as a bridge between the west and the developing world.
Saturday’s talks began with an address by Modi, who said Brics was “not against anyone”.
Modi has tasked his own Govt and the country to 'promote' a worldview in the new century - post 2026era- in a way that is "non-western" but not explicitly anti-western.
It's a tough diplomatic assignment.
There are other issues like Trade.
China is India's largest source of imports, with Indian purchases from China rising to about $132 billion in the 2025/26 fiscal year.
But India's exports to China remain much smaller. The trade deficit of more than $100 billion is quite substantial.
After 2024, military tensions have eased, but corporate captains in both countries face red tape, visa delays and Dos and Donots on selling industrial equipment.
In the India-Russian context, India has navigated well the energy crisis caused by the Iran war in part by turning to Russia, one of its most important strategic partners.
Vladimir Putin himself visited India in December 2025 and he also met Narendra Modi in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan just earlier this month.
India’s External Affairs minister, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, visited Kyiv a few days back.
Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told him that he and UKraine were “grateful to India for its commitment to ending this unjust war”.
Team Modi is aware of its role and challenges too. In the meantime, developments in Europe should make people raise eyebrows.
The 'weaponised financial systems' have alarmed Europe. European nations are hedging against this.
The weaponisation of the financial system refers to the use of global financial infrastructure—such as the U.S. dollar, SWIFT, and digital payment networks—as tools of geopolitical coercion and statecraft.
Europe relies heavily on U.S.-dominated currencies, assets, and payment infrastructure, leaving it vulnerable to extraterritorial secondary sanctions.
If France or the Netherlands join in ... the world may experience the 'fun' about the beginning of the end of US custodianship over Europe’s monetary assets.
European central banks, including those in France and the Netherlands, are quietly repatriating and diversifying their gold reserves away from North America.
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