India’s chairmanship of the 18th BRICS Summit, held on September 12-13 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, has drawn international commendation for steering the bloc toward a unanimously adopted declaration despite deep internal rifts. Even as commentators across the world praised New Delhi’s handling of the summit, several noted that China’s conduct on counter-terrorism and border issues continued to sit uneasily with its public rhetoric, reviving long-standing questions about Beijing’s double standards within the grouping.
India’s Balancing Act Wins International Recognition
Foreign policy observers described India’s management of the summit as a demonstration of calculated diplomatic skill. New Delhi hosted a bloc that now represents roughly half the world’s population, around 40 percent of global GDP, and about a quarter of global trade — a coalition that includes members with sharply divergent interests, from Russia and Iran to the UAE and Brazil. Analysts pointed out that India’s real achievement lay not in dramatic breakthroughs but in keeping the summit’s tone measured, avoiding the anti-Western posturing that critics often expect from BRICS gatherings while still securing consensus on a joint declaration. Commentary in several publications framed this as proof that India could hold ground on sensitive issues, including its insistence that border tensions with China be addressed alongside any progress in bilateral ties.
Xi Jinping’s Presence and China’s Selective Stand on Terrorism
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s attendance, his first at a BRICS summit in seven years, was widely read as a notable, if cautious, step toward renewed engagement with the grouping. Yet his presence did little to quiet scepticism about China’s approach to terrorism-related commitments. The New Delhi Declaration explicitly condemned the 2025 Pahalgam terror attack and called for “zero tolerance” with no double standards in combating cross-border terrorism, terror financing, and safe havens. For India, the inclusion of this language was seen as a significant diplomatic gain, given China’s history of shielding Pakistan-based groups from United Nations sanctions. Analysts noted that Beijing’s rhetorical commitment to fighting terrorism as a “common enemy of mankind” has repeatedly clashed with its actions at multilateral forums, reinforcing perceptions of inconsistency that India and other members continue to press on.
New Delhi Declaration Reflects Cautious, Hard-Won Consensus
The final declaration touched on reform of the UN Security Council and multilateral development banks, de-dollarisation efforts, tensions in West Asia, and emerging concerns around artificial intelligence governance, all without naming any single country directly. Commentators described this restraint as deliberate, allowing the bloc to project unity without forcing member states into positions that could fracture consensus. Some economists, meanwhile, cautioned that BRICS’ expanding economic footprint owes disproportionately to China’s growth, with the remaining members’ combined share of world income essentially flat over the past decade. That mixed picture — diplomatic success for India, tempered optimism on China, and modest economic gains for the bloc as a whole — is likely to shape how the BRICS Summit’s outcomes are debated in the months ahead.