NSA Ajit Doval to visit Beijing on Monday for talks with Chinese counterpart
The talks also assume significance ahead of Xi's expected visit to India next month for the BRICS Summit, which would mark his first trip to the country in several years.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will travel to Beijing on Monday for high-level boundary talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, weeks ahead of President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to India for the BRICS Summit.
Doval, India’s Special Representative for boundary talks, will meet Wang, China’s Special Representative on the boundary question, for discussions aimed at reviewing the situation along the Line of Actual Control and preventing fresh escalation.
The visit comes amid recent reports of incursions by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army into Arunachal Pradesh along the LAC. The Defence Ministry has not issued an official statement on the scale of the reported incursions.
Sources told India Today that the talks are expected to focus on two broad areas: reviewing the situation along the LAC, including in Eastern Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, and exploring mechanisms to prevent tensions from escalating.
The Special Representatives mechanism remains one of the main political channels between India and China for discussions on the boundary dispute and broader management of the LAC.
The talks also assume significance ahead of Xi’s expected visit to India next month for the BRICS Summit, which would mark his first trip to the country in several years. The two sides are expected to discuss possible deliverables for the visit as part of efforts to stabilise bilateral ties.
The LAC has remained sensitive since the 2020 military standoff in Eastern Ladakh. While disengagement has taken place at several friction points following multiple rounds of military and diplomatic talks, broader de-escalation and a return to the pre-2020 situation remain unresolved.
Any progress during Doval’s Beijing visit could also pave the way for a possible bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit.