Ahead of Modi-Xi meet, India, China to hold another round of boundary negotiations

New Delhi: The special representatives of India and China will hold the 24th round of boundary negotiations in New Delhi early next week – ahead of a proposed meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at Tianjin in the communist country’s northern region.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is likely to host Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for the 24th round of boundary negotiations in New Delhi on August 18, a source told DH.

Doval and Wang, the current special representatives of New Delhi and Beijing for boundary negotiations, had on December 18, 2024, held the last round of talks to settle the protracted boundary dispute between the two neighbouring nations.

Doval and Wang will discuss a set of measures advancing effective border management and sustaining peace and tranquillity along the disputed India-China boundary. They will set the stage for the Modi-Xi meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s summit at Tianjin in northern China from August 31 to September 1. The two leaders may announce the measures to be discussed and finalised by the special representatives.

The special representatives of India and China had started talks to resolve the boundary dispute in 2003.

They had reached an agreement in 2005 on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for Settlement of the Boundary Question. The process remained stalled for five years after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s aggressive moves along the Line of Actual Control and the Indian Army’s counter-deployment in April-May 2020 led to a military stand-off in eastern Ladakh.

They restarted negotiations after the October 21 deal between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA on patrolling in Depsang and Demchok marked the end of the process of mutual withdrawal of frontline troops deployed by the two sides along the LAC.