Beijing, Aug 23: National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is scheduled to travel to Beijing on Monday to participate in the India-China Special Representatives (SR) talks on the boundary issue with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, official sources said.
Doval and Wang are expected to hold the 25th round of SR talks on Tuesday. Both are designated Special Representatives under the mechanism established in 2003 to address the India-China boundary dispute spanning 3,488 km.
Although the mechanism has not resolved the longstanding boundary dispute, officials on both sides view it as an important platform for addressing tensions and discussing issues related to bilateral ties.
The upcoming talks assume significance as they precede the expected visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to India for the BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12-13.
While there has been no official confirmation of Xi’s visit, officials on both sides are hopeful of his participation. His visit could also provide an opportunity for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the summit to discuss ways to advance bilateral relations.
Doval and Wang last met in August 2025 on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin.
Ahead of the talks, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday stressed that peace and tranquillity along the border remain essential for stable India-China relations.
“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.
He said the situation along the border would have a significant bearing on the overall state of bilateral relations.
His remarks came amid reports of increased Chinese military activity in Arunachal Pradesh’s Upper Subansiri region. China’s Foreign Ministry, however, recently said the border situation was “generally stable”.
China and India have also agreed to maintain communication through diplomatic and military channels and work jointly to preserve peace and tranquillity in the border areas.
India has repeatedly maintained that peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are of “utmost importance” for the overall trajectory of bilateral ties.
New Delhi has also rejected Beijing’s objections to India’s decision to officially identify 27 places and geographical features in Arunachal Pradesh by their standard names, reiterating that the state is an integral and inalienable part of India.
China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of what it calls “South Tibet” and has issued its own names for locations in the region since 2017. India has rejected the practice, saying such moves cannot alter the established reality regarding Arunachal Pradesh.
