Willing to work with India for ‘common interests’ in Global South, BRICS: China

China is willing to work with India for upholding “common interests” in Global South and the BRICS grouping, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of China on Thursday (March 26, 2026). Following a meeting between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and outgoing Indian ambassador Pradeep Kumar Rawat in Beijing, Chinese MoFA spokesperson Lin Jian said the two sides view each other as “development opportunities”.

The remarks from Beijing coincided with remarks by Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong who on the same day called for greater cooperation between the two sides and said there are “some” stakeholders who do not favour positive relation between India and China.

Following the meeting between Mr. Wang and Mr. Rawat, Mr. Lin said, “China is willing to work with India to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, continue to regard each other than threats, treat each other as partners instead of rivals, expand mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, safeguard the common interests of the Global South, strengthen multilateral collaboration in mechanisms such as BRICS….” India is the current chair of BRICS and the next BRICS summit is scheduled to be held in India.

Cultural cooperation

In Delhi, the Chinese ambassador reflected similar positive sentiments and said Indian yoga, aromatherapy and cuisine were gathering popularity in China and called for greater cultural cooperation. “China and India are neighbours that cannot be moved apart. It should be the right choice for both sides to be good neighbourly friends and partners that help each other succeed, and realise the ‘Dragon-Elephant Tango’. However, some people are unwilling to see China and India live in harmony,” said ambassador Xu Feihong, arguing that some antithetical forces “hope to profit from discord between our two countries”. The remarks from the Chinese envoy coincided with multiple initiatives that the two sides are taking to normalise ties, including restarting civil aviation links that were disrupted in the aftermath of the Galwan clashes of June 2020.

Delivering a speech titled “Bridging Hearts Through Youth: China and India Toward a Shared Future”, the envoy said India and China should “foster objective and rational views of each other.”

‘We welcome more young people from India to visit China, see it with your own eyes, experience the vitality of Chinese modernisation, share stories of China-India friendship, and help build a more objective and rational understanding between our peoples,” said Mr. Xu. He said India and China should deepen exchanges and support each other in platforms like BRICS and the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) as the world deals with “turbulence, unilateralism and protectionism”.

Coinciding with positive sentiment being expressed by Chinese diplomats, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is making changes at the level of transfers and postings that will be relevant for India-China ties in the coming years. India’s current High Commissioner to the U.K. Vikram Doraiswami will be the next ambassador to China and Rudrendra Tandon, former Indian ambassador to Afghanistan, has been appointed Secretary (East) of the MEA.