Xi Jinping Expands Diplomatic Reach Through State Visits to Egypt, India, and Washington

Chinese President Xi Jinping and First Lady Peng Liyuan arrive in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on August 30, 2026, for an official state visit and to attend the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit on September 1.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing to embark on rare state visits to Egypt and, most likely, India, before his anticipated journey to the United States in late September.

Xi has “sharply curtailed foreign travel in recent years, so his busy upcoming travel schedule is a significant gauge of his priorities,” Gabriel Wildau, managing director at Teneo, told CNBC in an email.

The Chinese leader has ventured abroad only once this year: a state visit to North Korea in June, marking his first in seven years. In the meantime, the world has come to China, with more than 20 leaders—including U.S. President Donald Trump—visiting Beijing in the first half of the year, according to the U.S.-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The global stakes continue to rise, driven by the Iran war, persistent U.S.-China trade tensions, and growing security risks stemming from artificial intelligence. For Beijing, these developments strengthen the case for an evolution in its global role.

“It’s time for China to probably take bigger responsibility, provide more global public goods,” said Hai Zhao, director of international political studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a state-affiliated think tank.

“Because of China’s deep integration into the global economy, China is an integral part of the solution,” he explained, whether the issue concerns supply chain security, oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, or cybersecurity.

Xi arrived in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Sunday. The country is hosting the security-focused Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit on Monday and Tuesday, an annual event that brings together the heads of Russia, India, and other non-Western nations.

As part of the same trip, which runs through Thursday, Xi plans to undertake his first state visit to Egypt in a decade. China has significantly expanded its presence in the Suez Canal region through a bilateral economic and trade cooperation zone.

Xi is then expected to attend another gathering of non-Western leaders, the BRICS summit, which will take place in New Delhi from September 12 to September 13. China has yet to confirm Xi’s participation. If confirmed, this would mark Xi’s first visit to India since 2019, following the deadly border clashes between the two countries in 2020.

Washington is watching

Experts indicated that the U.S. will be closely monitoring developments at both the SCO and BRICS summits, as Washington seeks to strengthen ties with India and China while preparing to take a firmer stance against Russia to bring an end to Moscow’s war with Ukraine.

Last year, as the U.S. imposed tariffs on Beijing and New Delhi, a clip of Xi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Russian President Vladimir Putin laughing together at the SCO summit in Tianjin went viral.

The meeting drew the ire of Washington, with Trump claiming that the U.S. had “lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China.”

Much has changed since then. In February of this year, Trump announced a reduction of tariffs on India from 50% to 18%, and the two countries are currently negotiating a trade deal. Trump also made a landmark visit to China earlier this year, and Xi is expected to travel to Washington in September, following the BRICS summit.

However, India and China still face the threat of tariffs as high as 100% from Washington if the U.S. House passes the Graham bill, which penalizes countries purchasing Russian oil. More than 50% of India’s crude supplies originated from Russia in June and July, with that share standing at approximately 43% as of last week, according to Kpler data.

“Visible warmth” between Modi and Putin “could shape the President’s [Trump] calculations over using potential new secondary tariff authorities” regarding India’s purchases of Russian oil, Richard M. Rossow, senior advisor and chair on India and Emerging Asia Economics at CSIS, told CNBC.

Meanwhile, experts anticipate that New Delhi will use its presence at the SCO and BRICS summits to underscore the strength of its multi-polar alignment. While India maintains a much closer relationship with the U.S. than with Russia or China, it will leverage these platforms to signal to Washington that it has alternative partners.

The Indian side, through these meetings, will convey to the U.S. that “there will be a price if you continue to remain uncertain,” Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, South Asia practice head at Eurasia Group, told CNBC.

Elephant-dragon tango

Following their meeting at the SCO, Xi and Modi are expected to meet again in New Delhi for the BRICS summit.

Relations between the two neighbors have improved over the past year following a meeting between Modi and Xi in Tianjin last year. Direct flights between India and China have resumed, several historic Silk Road trade routes have been reopened, and in March, India relaxed restrictions on investment from Beijing.

Last week, the two sides also agreed to work toward resolving their long-standing border disputes. Yet significant issues remain unresolved. According to local media reports, Indian businessmen and executives are encountering “significant difficulties” in obtaining Chinese visas.

“It is good to see India-China tensions confined to trade and visas!” Rossow told CNBC, adding that this represents an improvement over the earlier military confrontation.

Analysts noted that both sides are striving to balance their commercial linkages.

While India is easing investment rules for Chinese firms, it is also imposing trade restrictions on goods in sectors where India is moving closer to self-sufficiency. Meanwhile, China remains cautious about technology transfers to India, concerned that such transfers could undermine Beijing’s position in key global supply chains.

India, for instance, is rapidly emerging as a key supplier for Apple smartphones as the company diversifies its manufacturing base away from China. According to the Indian government, the country has already become the world’s second-largest mobile phone producer.

U.S.-China tech focus

Technology is rapidly becoming a critical focus for the Trump-Xi summit in Washington, D.C., expected on September 24. China has not officially confirmed the visit. Senior officials from both sides met in Beijing last week, amid tough rhetoric from the Trump administration regarding China’s alleged role in financing Iran.

Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, also met with U.S. delegates in Beijing last week for a “Track 1.5” semi-official dialogue, organized in part by the Rockefeller-founded nonprofit Asia Society. The organization’s CEO, Kevin Rudd, stated that the discussions explored the possibility of U.S.-China AI guardrails and bilateral collaboration on global cancer research.

If increasingly powerful large language models fall “into the wrong hands it will be very damaging both to the U.S. and China and to the global economy,” Zhao said. He anticipates that the two leaders could establish a mechanism to guide AI development, while extending a truce on tariffs will be essential for bilateral stability.

However, Teneo’s Wildau expressed less optimism, citing the “widespread conviction that AI development is a zero-sum game.”

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