Chinese Communist Party delegation to meet RSS leaders in Delhi

In a first since the Galwan conflict in 2020 and a thaw in India-China ties in 2024, a delegation of Communist Party of China (CPC), led by Vice-Minister Sun Haiyan, will meet senior officials of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) on Tuesday (January 13, 2026).

This is not the first time that office-bearers of the Communist Party of China are meeting the Sangh leaders. In 2009, a delegation of BJP and RSS leaders visited Beijing.

In 2014, RSS leader Pradeep Joshi had welcomed the CPC’s stand to amend textbooks in Chinese history and morality to restore Chinese greatness.

The meeting taking place in RSS’s centenary year is an attempt of confidence building measures between the two countries, a senior RSS functionary told The Hindu. He confirmed that the meeting will be held in New Delhi on January 13 in which senior RSS functionaries will remain present.

No invitation earlier

The meeting came despite the RSS having skipped inviting the representatives of China in its centenary year celebrations, which was held in Nagpur on the occasion of Vijayadasami. Chinese envoys were also not invited in the lecture series of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, which was held in New Delhi in August and attended by ambassadors of several countries.

As part of a series of meetings, the CPC delegation also visited the BJP headquarters in the national capital on Monday (January 12) and held discussions with party leaders, including BJP general secretary Arun Singh. The two organisations discussed at length the means to advance inter-party communications between the BJP and the CPC.

“Chinese Ambassador to India H.E. Xu Feihong also joined the delegation,” Vijay Chauthaiwale, in-Charge, Foreign Affairs Department of BJP wrote on X.

The delegation is also expected to meet a Congress delegation, led by party leader Salman Khurshid, in the days to come, sources in the party confirmed.