NSA Ajit Doval meets Chinese FM Wang Yi, in Beijing, on August 25, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Ananth Krishnan
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have given “a clear and positive direction” to the India-China relationship, which has been “steadily returning to normalcy”, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval said in Beijing on Tuesday (August 25, 2026).
Mr. Doval held extensive consultations with Chinese Foreign Minister and Politburo member Wang Yi, as the two sides held the 25th round of talks between the Special Representatives on the boundary question.
Mr. Doval and Mr. Wang spent several hours in each other’s company, first during “small group” discussions that both sides described as detailed and went on for more than 90 minutes, then during larger delegation level talks. Earlier on Tuesday (August 25, 2026), Mr. Doval also called on Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng.
Mr. Doval told Mr. Wang in opening remarks in the presence of media that this round of talks was “very important particularly in the wake of the BRICS Summit to happen shortly.”
Mr. Xi is expected to attend the September 12 meet in New Delhi, on his first visit to India in seven years.
“We meet in keeping with the guidance of our leaders Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping who have given clear and positive direction to our relationship both at Kazan and Tianjin,” he said, referring to their meetings in 2024 and last year.
“I am happy over the past year our relationship has been steadily returning to normalcy,” Mr. Doval said. “The normalcy we have witnessed in our relationship has been a direct result of both sides maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas.”
He said both sides “extensively talked about… how to effectively reinforce and further consolidate our efforts to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas.”
Mr. Wang told Mr. Doval that as two major developing countries and important emerging economies, a “sound and steadily growing China and India relationship serves the fundamental interests of our two peoples, meets the common expectations of the Global South countries, and also meets the trend of the times.”
“The China India relationship has gone beyond the bilateral scope and taken on global and strategic significance,” he said. “It is important for us to step up communication, to enhance mutual trust, to remove disturbances and overcome obstacles. We need to be good friends that enjoy good neighbourliness, and be good partners that contribute to each other’s success.”
Mr. Wang said besides resuming the SR talks last year, institutional mechanisms between the two counties were resuming and both sides have been “working hard to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas.”
At the previous round of talks in New Delhi, he noted both sides “reached a set of common understandings on delimitation, on border management, mechanism building and cross border cooperation.”
“Over the past year, our two sides have worked to deliver them on the ground and have made good progress,” he said.
This round, he added, would help both sides “continue to have in-depth exchange of views on issues of shared interest to better understand each other and to properly handle the boundary question, to not only maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas, but also inject new impetus for the bilateral relationship.”
Earlier on Tuesday (August 25, 2026), Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng said in talks with Mr. Doval both countries “should view and handle bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, and work together to implement the important consensus reached by their leaders”.
“The two sides should enhance strategic mutual trust, tap the potential for cooperation, maintain close multilateral coordination, properly manage differences, and promote the sustained and stable development of China-India relations,” he said.
Published – August 25, 2026 06:46 pm IST
