Doval in China, LAC peace on agenda

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval arrived in Beijing on Tuesday to take part in the special representative-level talks to be held on Wednesday. The talks are aimed at restoring the bilateral ties stalled for five years due to the military standoff in eastern Ladakh.

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First SR-level talks since 2019

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet

for what is the 23rd round of special representatives’ talks since 2003, and the

first since December 2019, to resolve the pending boundary issues

Doval, India’s special representative, will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for the 23rd round of the special representative-level talks to discuss a range of issues to rebuild the bilateral ties following the October 21 agreement on disengagement and patrolling in eastern Ladakh between the two nations.

The resumption of special representative-level talks was one of the key points when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS summit at Kazan, Russia, in October. The Ministry of External Affairs had said they would “explore a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question”.

The special representatives’ talks are an essential platform for managing the border dispute and promoting bilateral relations. Historically, China has “not agreed” to several suggestions on having a demarcated boundary. Beijing has resisted all proposals since British colonial times and also after Independence.

As of now, a 3,448-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) running along the east-west axis of the Himalayan ridge line is a de facto boundary. The LAC itself is not demarcated on ground and its alignment is disputed by either side, leading to disputes.

The last time ‘demarcation’ of the LAC was mentioned at the highest level was in September 2014, when PM Modi and Xi had met. Modi’s official statement said “the process of clarifying the LAC be resumed”.

Sources say for India, the demarcation of the LAC is a solution based on two parameters — one is to use the watershed principle while the other is on ‘present actualities’ where the troops of either side hold ground. Historically, China has resisted all attempts to demarcate a boundary. The British made five attempts to settle the boundary of Ladakh with Tibet and China between 1846-47, 1865, 1873, 1899 and 1914. While all these attempts failed, Ladakh was included with the British Empire on each occasion.

Britain got China to send in troops during World War I and II, but the boundary remained undecided.