India has no interest in endless confrontation, and Beijing has every reason to prefer a predictable India to another unresolved front
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenGaurav KumarGaurav Kumar is a researcher at the Centre for Professional Military Education in the United Service Institution of India, New Delhi. Published: 4:30pm, 4 Sep 2026When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, the encounter was short and carefully choreographed while the message was warm. Modi had earlier said that stable and predictable ties between the two largest nations on Earth matter for a multipolar Asia and world.The larger moment will come on September 12 and 13, when Xi is expected to visit New Delhi for the first time in seven years. He is likely to lead a delegation of some 400 officials to the Brics summit.
That is not a reason for gloom. Rather, it is the reason to build something durable now, while there is an opening and the will to act on both sides.
