India and China will on Friday resume their talks to resolve the border dispute, the first since the 73-day long stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops in Doklam.
China’s State Councillor and Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee, Yang Jiechi will hold talks with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and the Special Representative of India on the Boundary Question. This will be the 20th Meeting of the Special Representatives.
“At the invitation of Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser and the Special Representative of India on the Boundary Question, His Excellency Yang Jiechi, State Councillor and Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee and the Special Representative of the People’s Republic of China on the Boundary Question will visit India on December 22, 2017 to hold the 20th Meeting of the Special Representatives,” Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The Doklam episode had also dominated the meeting between Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during their meeting last week.
“In 2017, China-India relations have maintained a good momentum generally but the Doklam incident posed a major test for the two countries. We should learn lessons from this incident to avoid any further conflict of this kind in the future,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said ahead of the talks. She added this meeting is not only a high-level channel for the border issue discussion but also the platform for strategic communication.