India-China border talks: NSA Ajit Doval to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Wednesday

National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on December 18 for a top-level meet to discuss the long-standing border dispute following disengagement of forces on the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), making the announcement on the Special Representatives (SR) dialogue, said the two sides will discuss the management of peace and tranquility in the border areas and explore a “fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable” solution to the boundary question.

“Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor and India’s Special Representative (SR) on the India-China boundary question, will hold the 23rd meeting of the SRs in Beijing on December 18 with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs of China,” MEA said in a late-night statement on Monday.

There has been no SR dialogue in the last five years due to the eastern Ladakh border row. The last round was held in New Delhi in December 2019.

Doval and Wang last met on the sidelines of a meeting in St Petersburg, Russia, on September 12. The decision to revive the dialogue mechanism was taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan on October 23, two days after India and China firmed up a pact for disengagement in Demchok and Depsang in eastern Ladakh.

Beijing also confirmed the meeting. “Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval will meet on Wednesday in Beijing to discuss the China-India boundary question,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in a statement on Monday.

In diplomatic talks on December 5, India and China did the groundwork for the upcoming SR dialogue.

While India’s Special Representative for the dialogue is NSA Doval, the Chinese side is headed at the talks by Foreign Minister Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China.

India-China standoff along the Line of Actual Control

The military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020 and a deadly clash at the Galwan Valley in June that year resulted in a severe strain in ties between the two neighbours.

The face-off effectively ended following completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points of Demchok and Depsang under an agreement finalised on October 21.

Two days after the pact was firmed up, Modi and Xi held talks on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in the Russian city of Kazan. PM Modi had said mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity should remain the basis of the relations.

Following completion of the disengagement process in Demchok and Depsang, Indian and Chinese militaries also resumed patrolling activities in the two areas after a gap of almost four-and-a-half years.

In a statement in Lok Sabha during the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament on December 3, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India is committed to remaining engaged with China to find a fair and mutually acceptable settlement of the boundary issue. 

Jaishankar, however, made it clear that its ties with Beijing will be contingent upon strictly respecting the sanctity of the Line of Actual Control and adhering to the pacts on border management with no attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo.

The disengagement of troops has been achieved in ‘full’ in eastern Ladakh through a step-by-step process, culminating in Depsang and Demchok, and India now expects the commencement of talks on remaining issues that it had placed on the agenda, he said.