Doval, Wang to talk ‘way forward’ on border ahead of Modi-Xi meet

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to begin his two-day India visit on Monday to hold talks with National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval on the pending boundary issue, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Saturday.

During the 24th round of the Special Representatives (SRs) dialogue, the two are expected to lay the groundwork for a “way forward” on the border issue as Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets President Xi Jinping in China in a fortnight. Wang will also meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Over the past few months, India has twice — in June and July this year — pressed upon China to de-escalate from the present positions and resolve “friction” along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de-facto boundary between the two neighbours.

Jaishankar, at a July meeting with his counterpart Wang in Beijing, had stressed the need to work towards addressing the border issue as well as troop build-up along the LAC. “It is now incumbent upon us to address other aspects related to the border, including de-escalation,” the minister had told Wang.

In June, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had met his Chinese counterpart Admiral Dong Jun and underscored the need for the two countries to have a “permanent solution” to the border demarcation problem. He had also suggested a roadmap for a permanent de-escalation of troops along the LAC.

The issue of de-escalation of troops has been pending since October last year, when the two sides agreed on disengagement from two friction points along the LAC.

India had suggested a “three Ds” — disengagement, de-escalation and deinduction — step-wise approach to cool down tempers. While disengagement was completed in October 2024, which entailed pulling back troops from an eyeball-to-eyeball deployment, both de-escalation and deinduction remain a challenge.

Thousands of troops, backed by drones, guns, tanks, missiles, aircraft, helicopters, etc., are positioned on both sides of the LAC.

At a meeting in October last year, PM Modi and President Xi had resumed their stalled bilateral relationship by tasking the SRs with overseeing steps to ensure peace and tranquillity in border areas. The SRs had been asked to work out a “fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable” solution to the pending boundary issue. The two SRs last met in China in December.

Apart from the border issue, both sides have proposed the restart of trade through land borders. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had earlier this week named three routes — Lipulekh Pass (Uttarakhand), Shipki La (Himachal and Nathu La (Sikkim) — for the resumption of trade, primarily of locally produced goods.

After seeing over three decades of trade, the routes were shut during the 2020 Covid pandemic, which was closely followed by a military standoff.