Doval, Wang reopen border talks
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday opened a fresh round of high-level dialogue on the India-China boundary dispute, while also reviewing the state of bilateral relations.
The meeting comes at a politically significant moment, with Chinese President Xi Jinping expected to travel to New Delhi next month for the BRICS summit on September 12-13. Any progress in the boundary dialogue could help shape the atmosphere surrounding a possible meeting between Xi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The latest talks also come against the backdrop of unresolved differences over the border, including China’s claims relating to Arunachal Pradesh.
Doval and Wang are the two Special Representatives tasked with steering negotiations on the long-running boundary dispute.
The mechanism, created in 2003, covers the 3,488-km India-China frontier and has become a key channel for managing tensions and maintaining high-level communication between Beijing and New Delhi.
Ahead of his meeting with Wang, Doval met Chinese Vice President Han Zheng after arriving in Beijing on Monday. Discussions focused on maintaining peace and stability along the border and expanding cooperation in economic, political and multilateral areas.
Han urged both countries to approach their relationship with a long-term strategic outlook. He called for greater mutual trust, stronger cooperation and closer coordination in multilateral forums, while stressing the need to manage differences carefully.
The engagement follows a period of severe strain in ties triggered by the 2020 Galwan Valley clash and the ensuing military confrontation in eastern Ladakh. Although subsequent diplomatic and military-level engagements have helped reduce tensions, the broader boundary dispute remains unresolved.
The Special Representatives mechanism has not produced a final settlement of the border question, but officials on both sides continue to regard it as an important avenue for addressing disputes and preventing disagreements from escalating.
China said the latest round would involve detailed discussions not only on the boundary issue but also on bilateral, regional and international matters. Beijing has described the Special Representatives dialogue as the principal channel for negotiations on the boundary question.
The previous round, held in August 2025, resulted in what China described as candid exchanges and several areas of common understanding. The latest meeting is expected to build on those understandings, with both sides seeking to preserve peace and tranquillity along the frontier.
The talks are being closely watched in the context of Xi’s expected India visit. A meeting between Xi and Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit could provide an opportunity for the two leaders to discuss the next phase of India-China engagement.
Modi and Xi last met in August 2025 during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin. Since then, both countries have continued efforts to stabilise ties while keeping the boundary issue and other strategic differences under discussion.
For New Delhi, the immediate priority remains maintaining peace along the frontier while seeking progress on unresolved issues. For Beijing, the emphasis has been on restoring strategic trust and expanding cooperation without allowing outstanding disputes to derail the wider relationship.
Against this backdrop, the Doval-Wang dialogue could serve as an important indicator of whether the recent efforts to stabilise India-China ties can translate into sustained diplomatic progress.
