China had formally set the wheels in motion for President Xi Jinping’s India visit weeks before Beijing publicly announced his participation in the BRICS summit, with its embassy in Beijing seeking visas for his 67-member government delegation on August 27, according to people familiar with the matter.
The move came well ahead of Thursday’s announcement that Xi will travel to New Delhi for the September 12-13 BRICS summit at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It will be his first visit to India in seven years.