India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi before their scheduled meeting in Beijing on Wednesday (December 18, 2024).
| Photo Credit: PTI

India and China “positively affirmed” the outcome of their disengagement agreement at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), as National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Wednesday for the first boundary talks between the Special Representatives (SR) since 2019.

During the talks, Mr. Doval and Mr. Wang said that it was important to “draw from the lessons” of the four-year long military standoff at the LAC, in order to maintain peace and tranquillity at the boundary. They also discussed other ties that were derailed due to the frictions at the boundary, providing “positive directions” for cross-border exchanges, including the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage from India to Tibet, data sharing on trans-border rivers, and border trade. 

A statement issued by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Mr. Doval and Mr. Wang had held “substantive discussions” during the Special Representatives dialogue and reached a “six-point consensus”, that would see efforts to maintain peace at the borders and develop bilateral relations. While the Ministry of External Affairs did not refer to a “six-point” consensus, it reiterated most of the same points on promoting exchanges.

“The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to continue seeking a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable package solution to the boundary issue in accordance with the political guidelines agreed upon by the special representatives of the two countries on resolving the boundary issue in 2005,” the Chinese MFA statement, one of two issued about the SR meeting, said.

Significantly, the SRs did not refer to the resumption of direct flights and the restoration of journalist exchanges, which had both been discussed when Mr. Wang met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Rio de Janeiro last month. However, after a meeting between Mr. Doval and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng in Beijing, an official readout stressed the need to restore exchanges in “economic, cultural and trade” areas.

Maintaining peace

“This was the first meeting of the SRs since frictions had emerged in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas in 2020. The SRs positively affirmed the implementation of the latest disengagement agreement of October 2024, resulting in patrolling and grazing in relevant areas,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement issued after the meeting, referring to the disengagement verification process in Depsang and Demchok in eastern Ladakh.

“Drawing on the learnings from the events of 2020, they discussed various measures to maintain peace and tranquillity on the border and advance effective border management,” the MEA statement said, “underlining the importance” of peace and tranquillity at the LAC so that issues on the border do not hold back the “normal development of bilateral relations”.

Seeking boundary resolution

The resumption of the SRs process — started in 2003 to work on finding a satisfactory resolution to the decades-long India-China boundary dispute — marks a major step towards the resumption of diplomatic mechanisms that have been paused for the past few years. Mr. Doval had last met with Mr. Wang in Delhi in December 2019, just four months before the Chinese army amassed troops and transgressed along the LAC, leading to skirmishes with the Indian Army. This eventually led to the deadly Galwan clashes, the first time there had been casualties between the two armies in more than four decades.

After the October 21 agreement signalled an agreement to disengage at the last of seven friction points along the LAC, officials said that they would need to work next on de-escalation and de-induction of troops. The agreement had paved the way for the first formal talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had hailed the détente between Delhi and Beijing.

Mr. Doval and Mr. Wang, who had also met earlier this year in Moscow, were mandated to hold the SR meeting “at an early date” so as to “oversee the management of peace and tranquillity in border areas and to explore a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question,” the statement said. Mr. Doval also invited Mr. Wang to visit New Delhi for the next round of SR talks.

‘Restore political trust’

Mr. Doval, who arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, also called on Chinese Vice President Han Zheng. According to a readout quoted by official agencies, Mr. Han said that as “ancient civilisations and emerging global powers”, India and China’s ties hold global influence and strategic significance. Both sides should “restore political trust and promote collaboration in economic, trade, and cultural areas, thus ensuring stable development in their bilateral relations,” he said.

According to the readout, Mr. Doval had responded, saying that the resumption of SR talks after a five-year hiatus was significant, and that India is committed “to strengthening strategic communication with China” and injecting new momentum into the relationship. The MEA, however, did not issue a readout on the NSA’s talks with the Chinese Vice President.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. File

India, China Special Representatives for the border mechanism, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met in Beijing on Wednesday (December 18, 2024) to discuss a range of issues, including management of peace and tranquillity along LAC and restoration of bilateral ties frozen for over four years due to the military standoff in eastern Ladakh.

Mr. Doval, who is heading the Indian delegation, arrived here on Tuesday (December 17, 2024) to take part in the 23rd round of the Special Representatives’ talks being held after a gap of five years. The last meeting was held in 2019 in Delhi.

The talks began at 10 a.m. China time.

The two officials were expected to discuss a range of issues to rebuild the bilateral ties following the October 21 agreement of disengagement and patrolling in eastern Ladakh between the two countries.

On Tuesday (December 17, 2024), China expressed optimism about the talks saying that it is ready to work with India to implement the commitments based on the common understandings reached between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping during their meeting at Kazan in Russia on the sidelines of the BRICS summit on October 24.

China is prepared to settle differences with sincerity, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a media briefing here when asked about the Special Representatives (SR) talks.

“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,” he said.

“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, as agreed upon during the meeting of the two leaders in Kazan,” the External Affairs Ministry said on Monday (December 16, 2024).

After the Modi-Xi meeting, which was their first after five years, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil followed by a meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on China-India Border Affairs (WMCC).

The military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020 and was followed by a deadly clash at the Galwan Valley in June of that year resulting in a severe strain in ties between the two neighbours.

Barring trade, relations between the two countries virtually came to a standstill.

The face-off effectively ended following the completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points of Demchok and Depsang under an agreement finalised on October 21.

The SRs’ meeting is regarded as significant as it is the first structured engagement between the two countries to restore relations.

Constituted in 2003 to comprehensively address the vexed dispute of the India-China border spanning 3,488 km, 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.