The Tianjin meeting between Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi led to a reset in Beijing-New Delhi ties, Xu Feihong has said
Bilateral trade between China and India has reached a record $155 billion in 2025, Beijing’s ambassador in New Delhi has said.
This represents a year-on-year growth of more than 12%, Xu Feihong said at a gathering to celebrate the Chinese New Year on Tuesday.
India’s exports to China amounted to $19.7 billion in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 9.7%, Xu wrote in an article in ‘Hindu’ on January 29. Growth rates in November and December 2025 were 90% and 67%, respectively.
Last month, Xu urged Indian enterprises to bring more premium products to the Chinese market to transform trade deficits into cooperative surpluses.
China also backs India’s presidency of BRICS, and is ready to support coordination with New Delhi, he said on Tuesday. India assumed the presidency of BRICS on January 1.
“Last August, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a successful meeting in Tianjin, which led China-India relations from ‘a reset and fresh start’ to a new level of improvement,” Xu said.
Relations between India and China hit a low after a border clash in 2020. However, a thaw began after a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi in October 2024 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia. The leaders met again at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin in September 2025, where they agreed to enhance cooperation.
Direct flights between China and India officially resumed in October 2025. The Asian neighbors have also eased visa restrictions for each other’s citizens over the last year.
In January, Reuters reported India is planning to lift restrictions on Chinese companies bidding for government contracts, introduced after the 2020 border clash.
