India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) meets the President of China, Xi Jinping (R) as a part of the 25th Heads of State Council meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tianjin, China on August 31, 2025.
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BEIJING — China plans to send a delegation to India’s upcoming AI summit in the latest sign of improving ties between the two neighbors, CNBC has learned.
A vice minister from China’s Ministry of Science and Technology will lead the delegation, said George Chen, partner and co-chair of digital practice at consultancy The Asia Group, citing conversations with his government contacts. He added that the Indian embassy in Beijing had reached out to China to arrange the visas.
The Asia Group frequently engages with Chinese policymakers about AI regulatory development.
It’s the first public confirmation that China will attend the event in New Delhi, scheduled for Feb. 16 to 20. Chinese state media in late December had cited Indian media as saying that New Delhi had extended an official invitation to Beijing to attend the AI Impact Summit.
Representatives for the Indian embassy, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and China’s Ministry of Science and Technology did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The science ministry has four vice ministers.
The planned visit, with Chinese businesses expected to participate, comes as China’s relations with India appear to be on the mend after a few turbulent years.
Following a border skirmish in 2020 between the two countries that resulted in fatalities, India had banned dozens of Chinese mobile apps including TikTok, citing security concerns.
Bilateral tensions started easing last year, with the resumption of direct flights and tourist visas, after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin in August.
Modi also posed with Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in a widely-shared video of the three laughing together on the sidelines of the summit.
China has used the SCO and other events as platforms for increasing Beijing’s influence in AI development worldwide.
Several U.S. business leaders, including Bill Gates and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, are slated to join the AI summit in India this month. Its dates coincide with China’s biggest holiday of the year, the Lunar New Year festival.