New Delhi: Senior BJP office-bearers met with a Communist Party of China (CPC) delegation Monday.
“A delegation of Communist Party of China under the leadership of H.E. Ms. Sun Haiyan visited the BJP head office today. A BJP delegation headed by party Gen. Sec. Arun Singh discussed at length the means to advance inter party communications between BJP and CPC. Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong also joined,” a person familiar with the matter told ThePrint.
Sun is the vice-president of the CPC’s International Liaison Department (ILD). Before that, she served as the Chinese ambassador to Singapore. The focus of the meeting was to enhance communications between organisations, while also instituting confidence building measures, ThePrint has learnt.
This is not the first time members of China’s ruling party have met with the BJP. It has been almost six years since the last instance. The ILD of the CPC serves as its primary department for organising international party to party interactions and the BJP has been involved in such reciprocal meetings since the early 2000s.
Ms Sun Haiyan, Vice Minister, International Dept of Communist Party of China (IDCPC) visited today BJP head Office. During the meeting we discussed how to enhance communication and interaction between BJP and CPC. 🇮🇳🤝🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/KdBZVyYUMW
— Arun Singh (@ArunSinghbjp) January 12, 2026
The latest meetings come as a part of India and China’s larger repositioning of its ties following the agreement reached on 21 October 2024 to disengage at the friction points across the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Ties between India and China remained frozen for over four years following the clashes at Galwan in the summer months of 2020. Following the 2024 agreement, both sides agreed to introduce a number of confidence building measures.
In the last year, direct flights between the two countries resumed. China restarted the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summer of 2025, allowing 750 pilgrims to visit the site. India has resumed issuing both tourist and business visas for Chinese nationals, as Beijing started giving Indian businesses export licenses for rare earth elements.
However, a number of irritants in ties remain, revolving around the boundary. Two special representative meetings have been held on the boundary question between India and China since the end of 2024. The next Special Representative-level meeting is expected to be held by China.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi travelled to New Delhi last August, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to the city of Tianjin for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Heads of States summit at the end of August.
Modi has held two formal meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2024 and 2025. The perceived thaw in ties comes at a point in time where New Delhi’s political relations with the US remain tense. India faces some of the highest tariffs of 50 per cent imposed by US President Donald Trump last August.
The visit of the Chinese ILD delegation also occurs months ahead of the BRICS Summit, set to be hosted by New Delhi. The summit will see the leaders of the BRICS grouping including Russian, China, Brazil, South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt, the UAE, Iran and Indonesia participate.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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