Behind the India-China thaw: How Xi Jinping's 'secret letter' pushed Delhi and Beijing together amid Trump's trade war

Chinese leader Xi Jinping wrote a “secret” letter to President Droupadi Murmu in March that played a role in speeding up the improvement of India-China ties as both countries faced a common challenge from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, Bloomberg has reported.

Xi’s letter was later passed on to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An Indian official familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the letter was meant to “test the waters on improving ties.” Xi expressed concern about any deal between India and the United States that could “harm China’s interests” and even named a provincial official who would steer Beijing’s efforts, the report said.

In March, Indian and Chinese media did report that Xi had written to Murmu, though it is not clear if Bloomberg is referring to the same letter.

Trump has hit India with 50 per cent tariffs while waging a broader trade war on China. Although Trump initially imposed tariffs of up to 145 per cent on Chinese goods, the United States and China are now in a truce phase as trade talks progress. China appears to have the upper hand as Trump has been cautious in pushing too hard, given Beijing’s dominance over rare earth supplies.

The Bloomberg report said that India only began to “seriously” reciprocate Xi’s outreach in June. This came at a time when India’s trade talks with the US had turned tense. India-US ties had soured further after Trump falsely claimed credit for ending the India-Pakistan conflict in May and undermined India’s position in Operation Sindoor.

Meanwhile, relations between India and China have been warming on multiple fronts. Beijing has reopened the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra route for Indian pilgrims, and India has restored visas for Chinese tourists. Direct flights between the two countries have also resumed.

China has also publicly supported India against Trump’s tariff measures, with Chinese officials describing the levies as unfair and counterproductive.

“Trump is indeed the great peacemaker – he deserves all the credit for stimulating the incipient rapproachment between Delhi and Beijing,” Ashley Tellis, senior fellow at the Carnagie Endowment for International Peace and a former US diplomat in New Delhi, said ironically. “He has singlehandedly pulled this off by treating as an enemy,” Tellis told Bloomberg.

The resetting of ties between the two Asian rivals over the past few months has been telling. Prime Minister Modi will now travel to China on August 31 and September 1 for the SCO Summit, where he will meet Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The timing is seen as a direct message to Washington, underscoring how India and China are finding common ground at a moment of rising US pressure.

To be sure, the outreach goes beyond Trump’s tariffs. Last year, India and China reached an understanding to partially resolve the Ladakh border standoff, which paved the way for the first direct meeting between Modi and Xi since tensions erupted.