BRICS 2026: Chinese President Xi Likely To Visit New Delhi, India Updates Arunachal Pradesh Map
India has updated the map of Arunachal Pradesh ahead of BRICS, which is scheduled to be held on 12 and 13 September. Chinese President is also expected to attend the summit in New Delhi.
New Delhi: India has updated the official map of Arunachal Pradesh, giving greater prominence to strategically significant passes, lakes, settlements, and a war memorial along the frontier with China, consisting of several loactions associated with the 1962 India-China war.
India has updated the map at a significant time when India is gearing up to host the BRICS Summit in New Delhi from 12 and 13 September 2026, in which Chinese President Xi Jinping is also expected to attend the high level meeting.
The update is considered significant due to the India-China boundary remaining disputed even as bilateral ties enter into an era of cautious stabilisation. The updated map gives greater visibility to locations carrying both strategic and historical importance, consisting of areas around Tawang and sites linked to the 1962 conflict.
However, the update in the map does not change India’s territorial position, whereas it just formalises and gives greater visibility to India’s existing position at a time when India and China are trying to stabilise relation without resolving their fundamental boundary dispute.
If the Chinese President attends the BRICS in New Delhi on September 12 and 13, it would be the first visit to India since October 2019. This would provide Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi an opportunity for bilateral engagement after years of friction following the 2020 eastern Ladakh crisis.
The upcoming Summit could therefore provide the setting for two parallel conversations.
India will seek to project BRICS as an important platform for emerging economies and the Global South.
