New Delhi: Even as Washington prepared for a leaders’ summit with China between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, the bonhomie seemed to have spread to the Indian capital, where the US ambassador Sergio Gor made an extremely rare appearance at a Chinese diplomatic event on Wednesday (September 23) evening.Gor was one of the early arrivals at the Taj Palace hotel where the Chinese embassy had organised a reception to mark the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.After speaking for a few minutes with the Chinese envoy who was greeting guests, Gor came inside the hall. He stayed for a short time, before leaving early too. Later, he tweeted that he had also hosted a reception at his residence for Delhi’s lieutenant governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu, who is a former Indian ambassador to the US.According to observers, this was the first time in a long time that the US ambassador had attended a Chinese embassy event. Incidentally, the Chinese envoy had gone to Roosevelt House earlier this year, when he took part in a more exclusive reception hosted by Gor.There was also a sizeable number of Western ambassadors, like from Germany, the Netherlands and Canada, in addition to senior diplomats from other major powers, at the event.Gor’s appearance in New Delhi came as Washington prepared to roll out an unusually high-profile welcome for Xi, with Trump set to personally receive the Chinese president at Joint Base Andrews. Xi’s three-day visit would be the first by a Chinese president to the US in more than a decade.In his remarks, Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong highlighted Xi’s visit to New Delhi for the BRICS summit earlier this month. He said the Chinese president and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reached an “important consensus” on developing bilateral relations on a “sound and stable track”, adding that Beijing wanted to work with India to translate that consensus into concrete action.He also pointed to the growth in bilateral trade, saying trade between the two countries had reached $91.7 billion in the first half of this year, an increase of 23.6% year-on-year. He called for stronger exchanges and cooperation and said the two countries should assist each other’s development.On the more difficult part of the relationship, Xu said China was committed to “mutual respect and mutual understanding”, arguing that the two countries had sufficient political and historical wisdom to handle their differences properly.He said Beijing remained committed to a “dual-track approach” in which progress in bilateral relations and the handling of border issues would reinforce each other, while maintaining peace and tranquillity along the border.The chief guest at the reception, commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal, similarly framed the recent India-China engagement as a positive development.Citing Indian figures, the commerce secretary said bilateral trade had reached $151.1 billion in 2025-26, with India’s exports to China rising by more than 36% to $19.47 billion.But Agrawal also underlined the economic imbalances that remain between the two countries. He said India was seeking “a more balanced and sustainable trade relationship with greater market access for Indian goods and services”, and that both sides needed to address their concerns, including “structural trading values and supply chain issues”, and work towards “meaningful and predictable market access”.