The Special Representatives of India and China on border issues are set to meet in Beijing on Wednesday, December 18, to discuss the restoration of bilateral relations following the October 21 agreement to disengage troops in eastern Ladakh.
The meeting, which will be the 23rd round of talks under the China-India Boundary Question mechanism, will be attended by China’s Wang Yi, Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, and India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, confirmed this in a statement on Monday.
Doval is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday ahead of the talks, which are expected to pave the way for normalizing relations between the two countries. The Special Representatives (SRs) mechanism, established in 2003 to address the complex India-China border dispute, has convened 22 times over the years. However, this meeting will be the first since 2019, after a five-year hiatus.
Although the SRs mechanism has not yet resolved the boundary dispute, it is seen as a useful tool for addressing recurring tensions. Diplomatic sources suggest that the talks will focus on the implementation of the agreement reached in October, which aims to resolve the tensions that have persisted since the large-scale troop movements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in 2020. This standoff marked one of the longest military confrontations between the two nations.
Following the agreement on disengagement, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri highlighted on October 21 that the deal had been finalized after weeks of negotiations. The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed the agreement the next day, noting that both sides had reached resolutions on the relevant matters, which China welcomed. China also committed to working with India to implement these resolutions.
In addition to the SRs talks, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on October 24 in Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, where they endorsed the agreement on patrolling and disengagement along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. They instructed the Special Representatives to meet to discuss further steps. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also held talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil, followed by discussions under the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on China-India Border Affairs (WMCC).
