Ajit Doval Meets Wang Yi in Beijing for 25th Round of Boundary Talks

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval arrived in Beijing on August 24 for the 25th round of Special Representatives talks on the India-China boundary question. He meets Chinese Foreign Minister and Politburo member Wang Yi on August 25 and will also call on Vice President Han Zheng.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the talks would include in-depth communication on the boundary and on bilateral, regional and international issues. Both sides have described the border situation as generally stable after the 36th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination earlier in August.

The visit comes weeks before India hosts the BRICS summit on September 12-13. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend, which would mark his first trip to India in seven years. Officials on both sides view the Special Representatives channel as the main platform for managing differences along the roughly 3,500-kilometre Line of Actual Control.

Relations deteriorated after the 2020 Galwan clash. Subsequent military and diplomatic talks produced disengagement in several friction points, yet the boundary itself remains unresolved. At last year's round in India the two sides agreed to explore an early harvest on delimitation in some sectors and to create additional general-level mechanisms.

India has repeatedly linked the overall state of bilateral ties to the situation on the ground. China has emphasised peace and tranquillity. The outcome of Tuesday's meeting will signal whether the two governments can convert recent stabilisation into concrete progress before the BRICS gathering.