Republic Day: Xi calls India and China ‘good neighbours, friends and partners’

China’s President Xi Jinping said China and India were “good neighbours, friends and partners” as he extended congratulations to President Droupadi Murmu on India’s Republic Day, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

Xi said that over the past year, China-India relations had continued to improve and develop and were of “great significance for maintaining and promoting world peace and prosperity”, according to Xinhua.

China has always believed that being “good neighbours, friends and partners” is the right choice for both countries, Xi said. He referred to the relationship as the “dragon and the elephant dancing together”, Xinhua reported.

Xi said he hoped both sides would expand exchanges and cooperation and address each other’s concerns to promote healthy and stable relations.

India and China, both nuclear-armed nations, share a 3,800 kilometre (2,400-mile) border that is poorly demarcated and has been disputed since the 1950s.

Bilateral ties were shaken by a 2020 clash in which 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand combat. Following the incident, both sides heavily militarised the Himalayan border.

Relations began improving last year after a series of high-level bilateral visits. Direct flights resumed in 2025 as both countries increased trade and investment flows amid US President Donald Trump’s combative foreign policy.