NSA Doval in Beijing for crucial boundary talks ahead of Xi’s visit

New Delhi: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval arrived in China today for the 25th round of Special Representatives talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the boundary issue.

The meeting aims to normalise ties amid a recent LAC standoff in Arunachal Pradesh. It comes just ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected BRICS Summit visit to India next month – his first in seven years.

Last month, fresh tensions emerged between China and India after New Delhi formally identified 27 places and geographical features in Arunachal Pradesh by their standard names on an official map, prompting Beijing to object to the move and call it “invalid.”

As per a statement from the Indian government, Doval arrived in Beijing this afternoon for a two-day official visit, at the invitation of China’s Foreign Minister and Member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Wang Yi.

India termed the dialogue a “continuing effort” by both sides to address “longstanding boundary issues through diplomatic channels”

Doval, who serves as India’s Special Representative (SR) on the India-China Boundary Question, is scheduled to hold the with his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on August 25.

The statement further reads that during his stay, the Docal will also pay a courtesy call on China’s Vice President, Han Zheng.

Both Doval and Wang are the designated SRs for the boundary talks mechanism which was established in 2003 to comprehensively address the longstanding boundary dispute between the two countries.

India and China do not have a mutually agreed and demarcated boundary. Troops from both sides remain deployed along the 3,488-km LAC stretching across the Himalayan region.

As per reports, before the BRICS summit, Modi and Xi are also expected to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on September 1.

In the last week of June, Wang visited India for a meeting of the BRICS NSAs and met Doval on the sidelines. Wang, who is also China’s Foreign Minister, underlined it is “imperative” for India and China to respect each other’s “core interests” and take concrete actions to implement the “important consensus” reached by both sides.

The tension between the two countries has been growing following the military stand-off in eastern Ladakh, which began in May 2020. India lost 20 soldiers in the border clashes.

However, both the countries have made several efforts to repair ties since the Ladakh standoff.