China confirmed up in New Delhi earlier than India’s chairmanship of the BRICS grouping even acquired going — and a former Indian diplomat says that was no coincidence. On February 10, China’s Govt Vice Minister of Overseas Affairs, Ma Zhaoxu, held a brand new spherical of the China-India Strategic Dialogue with Overseas Secretary Vikram Misri. The timing was deliberate: the assembly befell simply days earlier than India formally assumed the chair, and it despatched a fairly clear message about who Beijing thinks it wants on its aspect proper now.
India’s 2026 Presidency Drives BRICS Enlargement & China Talks
Former senior Indian diplomat Vidya Bhushan Soni spoke to ANI about what these India-China talks really reveal — and concerning the quiet effort being made to decrease the grouping’s relevance on the world stage.
Vidya Bhushan Soni acknowledged:
China’s Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, confirmed on social media that each international locations agreed to help one another’s work because the BRICS chair for 2026 and 2027, and to “work collectively for a multipolar world.” The India-China relationship can also be being checked out via the broader lens of the group’s current development — the bloc now has 11 full members, after Indonesia joined in early 2025, with ten accomplice international locations additionally approaching board that very same 12 months.
On February 10, Exterior Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar posted on X, reflecting on what the discussion board’s twentieth 12 months really means.
S. Jaishankar stated:
“As BRICS completes 20 years, it stands as a beneficial discussion board for worldwide cooperation, session and coordination, taking ahead its people-centric agenda. Worth the solutions and views introduced in by completely different delegations to advance BRICS 2026 priorities of resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability.”
India’s Imaginative and prescient for the Chair
On January 13, Jaishankar formally launched BRICS India’s presidency, unveiling the official emblem, theme, and web site for the 18th summit. The brand contains a lotus with a Namaste gesture at its middle — petals within the colours of all member states, meant to mirror simply how far the group’s enlargement has gone lately. India plans to host the summit in New Delhi round August or September 2026.
Jaishankar stated on the January 13 launch:
“India approaches its chairship with a humanity-first and people-centric method, impressed by the steerage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Our theme — Constructing for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability — displays our perception that cooperation amongst BRICS members may also help handle shared challenges in a balanced and inclusive method.”
With India on the helm and the most recent China-India talks pointing towards alignment earlier than the summit season begins, the 2026 chair is shaping as much as be one of many extra consequential ones the group has seen since its founding 20 years in the past.
