New Delhi: National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval is set to travel to China Tuesday to restart the Special Representatives dialogue on the larger boundary question between the two countries after a gap of nearly five years.
The last meeting of the Special Representatives dialogue was hosted by India in 2019. No meetings were held after that because of border tensions between the two sides since April 2020.
Informed sources told ThePrint that the main meeting between Doval and his Chinese counterpart under the Special Representatives mechanism, Wang Yi, who is also China’s foreign minister, is expected to take place Wednesday.
The sources remained tight-lipped on the exact contours of the meeting and the agenda points, but said that both sides will talk on the larger boundary issue in depth.
It is also expected that both sides will also look at restarting patrolling all along the Line of Actual Control.
The development came after both sides successfully completed the first round of patrolling in the Depsang Plains, as first reported by ThePrint.
This was achieved after both sides agreed on a disengagement plan for Depsang Plains and Demchok.
However, patrolling is not happening at the rest of the friction points along the LAC. Buffer zones have been created at these zones, which means that neither side will patrol these areas as was being done earlier.
Talking about the developments so far, sources said that a larger framework for disengagement in Depsang Plains and the need to lower tensions was first agreed upon during Jaishankar and Wang’s meeting in July.
Following this, Doval and Wang met on 12 September in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on the sidelines of the Meeting of BRICS High-Ranking Officials Responsible for Security Matters/National Security Advisers.
It was at this meeting that an overall decision was taken, after which, following several weeks of talks between military commands, a disengagement agreement was signed on 22 October by Corps Commander level officers.
This had led to the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping immediately after.
Modi and Xi had decided during their meeting to revive several mechanisms, including meetings of the Special Representatives, to address the border issue and normalise bilateral relations.
Since then, the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs met in New Delhi on 5 December.
Interestingly, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had informed the Parliament on 5 December that in his meeting with Wang, they had reached an understanding that the Special Representatives and the foreign secretary-level mechanisms will be convening soon.
Both Jaishankar and Wang Yi had met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 18 November.
Interestingly, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had met with his Chinese counterpart Admiral Dong Jun on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in Vientiane on 20 November.
Edited by Gitanjali Das
Also read: Photos taken, GPS logging done, India wraps up first set of patrols in Depsang Plains