The Special Representatives talks in China between NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi began on Wednesday to discuss the restoration of bilateral ties.
China on Tuesday said it was “ready to work” with India to “bring bilateral relations back to the track of stable and healthy development as soon as possible” ahead of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing, which began on Wednesday morning.
Doval met Wang on Wednesday for the Special Representative talks to discuss the restoration of bilateral ties following the October 21 agreement to disengage troops in eastern Ladakh. His visit is expected to provide a way forward for the two countries to normalise the India-China relations following the Galwan Valley clash in 2020. The talks began at 10 am (China time).
This is the first such high-level talks between the Special Representatives of India and China since December 2019. The meetings between Doval and Wang after 2019 have focused more on multilateral issues and not the resolution of border disputes.
In a press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said, “China is ready to work with India to implement the important common understandings between the leaders of China and India, respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, strengthen mutual trust through dialogue and communication, properly settle differences with sincerity and good faith, and bring bilateral relations back to the track of stable and healthy development as soon as possible.”
Doval-Wang Meet: What’s On Agenda?
The Ministry of External Affairs on Monday said Doval’s meeting with Wang on Wednesday would focus on the India-China boundary question. They both serve as Special Representatives of their respective countries.
“As agreed during the meeting of the two leaders in Kazan on 23 October 2024, the two SRs will discuss the management of peace and tranquillity in the border areas and explore a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question,” the MEA said in a statement.
Constituted in 2003 to comprehensively address the vexed dispute of the India-China border spanning to 3,488 kms, the SRs mechanism over the years met 22 times. While success eluded it in resolving the boundary dispute, officials on both sides regard it as a very promising, useful and handy tool in addressing the recurring tensions between the two countries.
Earlier, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar made a detailed statement on India-China relations in both Houses of the Parliament, where he stressed that de-escalation was the next priority. He said full disengagement has been achieved in eastern Ladakh and that India-China relations have seen “some improvements”.
Relations between India and China had been frozen since the violent Galwan Valley clash in eastern Ladakh in 2020. After years of negotiations, the two countries reached an agreement on October 21 regarding disengagement in Demchok and Depsang areas and patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The two sides also resumed patrolling activities in the two areas after a gap of almost four-and-a-half years.