On the date in local time, during his attendance at the BRICS leaders' meeting in Kazan, President Xi Jinping met with Indian Prime Minister Modi. This was the second meeting between the two countries' top leaders since the BRICS summit in Brasilia in 2019, and the first formal dialogue in five years, drawing global attention.

Recently, India's attitude towards China has noticeably softened. The meeting during the BRICS summit holds significant importance for the development of bilateral relations between the two countries. The leaders of China and India held a bilateral meeting in Kazan. The summit has brought a turning point for Sino-Indian relations. This dialogue has captured global attention.

It is well known that for some time, the relationship between China and India has been strained due to border issues. Since the month of the year, India has repeatedly unilaterally violated the consensus reached in Sino-Indian talks, illegally crossing the line into the Galwan Valley, the southern shore of Pangong Lake, and the Hotan Pass, constructing barriers and obstacles, and obstructing the normal patrols of the Chinese border defense forces. Due to the deliberate provocations of the Indian border defense forces, several bloody conflict incidents have occurred between the two sides. On the day of the month of the year, a fierce physical confrontation occurred between Chinese and Indian forces in the Galwan Valley area along the Sino-Indian border.

After years of tension, India has finally begun to reassess its bilateral relationship with China, returning to the negotiation table for communication and cooperation. Just before the BRICS Summit, the foreign ministries of both China and India announced simultaneously that they had reached a solution to the issues concerning the China-India border through diplomatic and military channels. The meeting between the two countries' top leaders in Kazan undoubtedly sent a positive signal to the international community — two neighboring developing countries with over a billion people each are moving from confrontation to cooperation.

This dialogue is of great significance. Sino-Indian relations are one of the most important bilateral relationships in today's world, concerning the well-being and future of hundreds of millions of people, and are also crucial for regional and global peace and stability. During the meeting, Modi welcomed the agreements reached to resolve border disputes, stating that maintaining peace and stability along the border is the top priority for both countries. The two sides agreed to continue holding special representative meetings on border issues, further reaching a fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable solution, and to utilize the dialogue mechanisms at the level of foreign ministers and officials to strive for the stabilization and reconstruction of bilateral relations. This indicates that India is finally willing to gradually restore stability in Sino-Indian bilateral relations through diplomatic and dialogue mechanisms.

After much deliberation, India has finally "turned back to the shore." In recent years, India, with its "Bharat" mentality inflated and its stance towards China persistently tough, why did it suddenly wake up and "submit" to China? The Indian economy needs to catch the "fast train" of China's development. In recent years, despite claiming to have the advantages of time, geography, and human resources, India's economic growth has not met expectations. In the second quarter of this year, India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate slowed to .%, hitting a new low in a year, with core industrial indices such as coal, oil, and electricity declining, consumption tax revenue dropping to the lowest level in three years, and the stock market in a state of widespread despair.

The Economic Times of India analyzed that the increasingly tense relationship with China has resulted in billions of dollars in losses for Indian electronics manufacturers, leading to the unemployment of nearly 100,000 people. Despite ongoing frictions between India and China, China remains India's largest source of goods and industrial products. Since 2014, India's imports from China have surged by 100%, and the trade deficit has doubled, with a sharp increase in reliance on Chinese technology in various fields such as electronics and pharmaceutical equipment. In 2020, India's trade deficit with China was $56.7 billion, with one-third of India's electronic products, new energy products, and pharmaceutical raw materials imported from China.

The Modi government is gradually realizing that continuing to stand firm with China on border issues will cause India to miss out on numerous development opportunities. It is evident that if India aims to achieve its goal of becoming the world's third-largest economy by the year, it is imperative to improve Sino-Indian relations and strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

China has always adhered to resolving issues through dialogue and consultation. Since the standoff incident, the border issue has become the most challenging problem for both China and India, and it is also a significant obstacle affecting the peace and cooperation between the two countries. With a responsible attitude, China has consistently maintained dialogue and contact with India. The Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs has held dozens of rounds of meetings, continuously narrowing differences and expanding consensus. In January and February of this year, Foreign Minister Wang Yi met successively with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, exchanging views on maintaining border peace and accelerating the negotiation process. China has always insisted on resolving disputes through dialogue and consultation, providing a necessary premise for the improvement of bilateral relations.

Allies are not ironclad, and India cannot squeeze into the Western circle. India has long been dedicated to showcasing its fence-sitting tactics, both claiming to be the leader of the Southern countries and maintaining close ties with Western nations. After the Biden administration took office, it vigorously promoted the "Indo-Pacific Strategy," enticing and pulling India to balance China's rise. For a period, Modi, in an attempt to appease the United States, frequently introduced policies to contain China, hoping to exchange them for American technological support and economic investment.

To show loyalty to the United States, the Modi government once banned a batch of Chinese mobile phones, including WeChat, Alipay, and browsers, and reduced direct flights between the two countries. Targeting Chinese enterprises in India, the Modi government imposed heavy fines on Chinese companies such as Xiaomi, citing financial fraud, and forcibly merged the Indian subsidiary of SAIC MG. It can be said that the tension in Sino-Indian relations is, to some extent, due to India's desire to present a "letter of allegiance" to the United States.

However, as US Deputy Secretary of State Campbell said, "India will never become a formal ally of the United States," India has always been just a pawn in the geopolitical game of the West. This attitude of the United States has been fully confirmed in the recent diplomatic dispute between India and Canada. Last month, a Canadian Sikh leader was assassinated in Canada, and the Canadian side accused Indian government agents of carrying out the assassination, which India strongly denied. The diplomatic war between the two countries escalated step by step, from verbal disputes to a comprehensive crisis in bilateral relations. In the diplomatic tug-of-war between the two sides, the United States unhesitatingly chose to stand up for Canada.

Good neighborliness is the right choice for India. At present, the agreement on the border issue between China and India has been reached, and the successful meeting between the leaders of the two countries has taken an important step in easing bilateral relations. Both China and India are ancient civilizations, major developing countries, and important members of the global South, all at critical stages of their respective national modernization efforts. The two major countries should be development opportunities for each other, pose no threat to each other, and should be partners rather than competitors. I hope India will cherish this path and strengthen communication and cooperation with China, enhance strategic mutual trust, and jointly pursue the bright path of harmonious coexistence and common development between neighboring major countries. Do not vacillate and jump back and forth, and avoid taking a "backward" step in history.