Ajit Doval in Beijing for key India-China boundary talks before BRICS

Ajit Doval arrived in Beijing for Special Representatives talks with Wang Yi on the India-China boundary question. The meeting is being watched for signs of stability in ties ahead of the BRICS summit in New Delhi.Stock photo used for illustrationNational Security Advisor Ajit Doval arrived in Beijing on Monday on a two-day visit for Special Representatives talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the India-China boundary question. The talks, scheduled for Tuesday, come ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's expected visit to New Delhi for the BRICS summit on September 12 and 13.The meeting also takes place at a time when the border issue and differences over Arunachal Pradesh continue to weigh on ties between New Delhi and Beijing. Relations 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 on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian did not directly answer a question on Xi's visit to India. Xi's visit would provide an opportunity for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the summit to discuss steps to take forward bilateral ties. Modi and Xi last met in August 2025 on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin.On the Special Representatives talks, Lin said Doval and Wang will have an in-depth discussion on the boundary question as well as other bilateral, regional and international relations. The talks between the Special Representatives are the "main channel for negotiations between China and India on the boundary question, and also an important platform for communication between the two sides on issues of mutual interest," he said. Lin said China and India had successfully held the 24th round of talks in August last year, when the two sides had candid and in-depth exchanges on the boundary question and reached a number of common understandings. "During this round of talks, the two sides will continue the in-depth communication on the boundary question in the spirit of the common understandings between leaders of the two countries to jointly keep the border areas peaceful and tranquil," he said. He added that the two sides will also exchange views on bilateral relations and international and regional issues.Doval and Wang are the designated Special Representatives under the boundary talks mechanism set up in 2003 to comprehensively address the dispute along the 3,488-km India-China border. Though the mechanism has not resolved the boundary dispute, officials on both sides regard it as a useful tool in dealing with recurring tensions. Besides attending the talks, Doval will call on Vice President Han Zheng, the External Affairs Ministry said in a press release. 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. "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. His remarks came amid reports of aggressive posturing by Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Subansiri region in recent weeks.On reports of increased Chinese military activity near the Arunachal Pradesh border, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on August 12 that the China-India border situation is "generally stable at the moment". External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on August 11 that India considers matters relating to border areas with China as "most serious" and asserted that maintaining peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control is of "utmost importance", as the state of the frontier will govern the overall trajectory of bilateral ties.New Delhi had also 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 releasing its own names for the region since 2017. India has described that move as "vain and preposterous", saying such actions will not alter the "undeniable" reality that the state "was, is, and will" always remain an integral part of India.Doval's visit and the boundary talks in Beijing are being closely watched as India and China try to manage the border dispute and wider differences while keeping bilateral channels open ahead of the BRICS summit in New Delhi.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Aug 24, 2026 19:56 IST