Ajit Doval reaches Beijing for boundary talks amid uncertainity over Xi's India visit

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval arrived in Beijing for a two-day visit to take part in the Special Representatives talks on the India-China boundary question with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, his counterpart on the mechanism, reported news agency ANI. The talks, scheduled for Tuesday, are significant as they are being held amid uncertainty over Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to India for the Brics summit on September 12-13.

The meeting is also taking place at a time when differences over the border and Arunachal Pradesh continue to weigh on bilateral ties. Relations between New Delhi and Beijing had come under severe strain after the 2020 Galwan Valley clash and the prolonged military stand-off in eastern Ladakh, though both sides have since taken steps to stabilise ties.

Announcing the talks at a media briefing in Beijing on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Doval and Wang would hold an in-depth discussion on the boundary question as well as bilateral, regional and international issues. Lin said the China-India Special Representatives talks are the main channel for negotiations on the boundary issue and also serve as an important platform for communication on matters of mutual interest.

Lin said the two countries had held the 24th round of talks in August last year, during which they had candid and in-depth exchanges on the boundary question and reached a number of common understandings. He said the 25th round would continue in-depth communication in the spirit of the understandings reached between the leaders of the two countries, with the aim of jointly keeping the border areas peaceful and tranquil. He added that the two sides would also exchange views on bilateral ties and on regional and international issues.

Doval and Wang are the designated Special Representatives in the boundary talks mechanism, which was set up in 2003 to address the India-China boundary dispute spanning 3,488 km. Though the mechanism has not resolved the dispute, officials on both sides see it as a structured channel for dealing with recurring tensions on different fronts. The External Affairs Ministry said Doval will also call on China’s Vice President Han Zheng during the visit.

Lin on Monday did not directly answer questions on Xi’s possible visit to New Delhi for the Brics summit next month. While there is still no official confirmation, officials on both sides remain optimistic about the Chinese leader’s participation, which could open the way for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the summit to discuss steps to move bilateral ties forward. Modi and Xi last met in August 2025 on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin.

Ahead of the Doval-Wang meeting, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday reiterated that ‘peace and tranquillity’ in the border areas are a prerequisite for good relations with China. His remarks came amid reports of aggressive posturing by Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh’s Upper Subansiri region in recent weeks.

"I think we went through a particularly bad patch between the summer of 2020 and the autumn of 2024, and that was primarily an outcome of the situation in the border areas," Jaishankar said at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum in New Delhi.

Responding to reports of stepped-up Chinese military activity near the Arunachal Pradesh border, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on August 12 that the China-India border situation is ‘generally stable at the moment’. On August 11, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India treats matters related to the border areas with China as ‘most serious’ and said maintaining peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control is of ‘utmost importance’, as the condition of the frontier will shape the overall course of bilateral relations.

New Delhi had earlier rejected Beijing’s criticism of its decision to formally identify 27 places and geographical features in Arunachal Pradesh by their standard names, saying the state is an ‘inalienable and integral’ part of India and that nothing can change this ‘indisputable reality’. China, which claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet, has been issuing its own set of names for the region since 2017. India described the Chinese move as ‘vain and preposterous’ and said such actions would not alter the ‘undeniable’ reality that the state ‘was, is, and will’ always remain an integral part of India.

Doval’s visit and the 25th round of Special Representatives talks come as both countries seek to keep communication open on the boundary issue and wider bilateral matters, even as differences over the border, Arunachal Pradesh and the broader state of ties remain in focus.