Doval says Modi and Xi gave clear positive direction to India-China ties after Beijing boundary talks

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on 25 August 2026 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping have given a clear and positive direction to India-China relations. The relationship, he said, has been steadily returning to normalcy.

The statement came at the opening of the 25th round of talks between the Special Representatives on the boundary question. Doval and Wang, who is also a Politburo member, held small-group discussions lasting more than 90 minutes before moving to larger delegation-level talks. Earlier the same day Doval called on Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng.

Doval linked the improvement in ties directly to the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas. "The normalcy we have witnessed in our relationship has been a direct result of both sides maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas," he said. Both sides discussed how to reinforce and consolidate those efforts.

The Special Representatives mechanism was established in 2003 to address the boundary dispute that stretches roughly 3,488 kilometres. The previous round had taken place when Wang visited India in August 2025. An August 6 meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on border affairs had already reviewed the situation along the Line of Actual Control and exchanged views on boundary delimitation, border management and mechanism-building.

Han Zheng, according to Chinese state media, said China and India should view relations from a strategic and long-term perspective and implement the consensus reached by their leaders. The Indian Embassy in Beijing reported that Doval and Han discussed ways to strengthen peace and tranquillity in the border areas and to improve bilateral relations across economic, political and multilateral forums in line with the leaders’ consensus.

Doval noted that the current round carried particular weight because of the approaching BRICS summit that India will host in September. Xi is expected to attend, which would mark his first visit to India in seven years. Indian and Chinese leaders are also due to meet on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek later this month.

Chinese strategic affairs scholar Hu Shisheng observed ahead of the talks that the focus would remain on institutionalising stability even while structural differences persisted. Both sides have previously agreed on the need for a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable framework consistent with the 2005 Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles. Recent references to an Expert Group under the Working Mechanism point to exploration of possible early-harvest outcomes in limited sectors of the boundary.

Doval described India and China as the world’s two most populous and fastest-growing major economies that share a historic opportunity for cooperation. He said India stands ready to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, properly address the boundary question and make new progress in bilateral relations. Wang characterised the discussions as in-depth and candid and expressed hope that they would produce new consensus.

The talks occurred against a backdrop of gradual stabilisation after the 2020 eastern Ladakh crisis. Multiple rounds of military and diplomatic contacts have since reduced friction along the Line of Actual Control. Official statements from both capitals continue to stress that the overall state of the relationship remains linked to conditions on the ground.

No joint statement detailing specific new agreements was released immediately after the meeting. The process remains incremental. The next round of Special Representatives talks is expected to take place in India in 2027 under the existing rotation.

For both capitals the immediate priority is to keep the border quiet while wider engagement expands. The September BRICS summit and the SCO meeting will provide the next public tests of whether the positive direction cited by Doval translates into visible diplomatic movement.