India stresses border peace key to ties as Doval meets Wang Yi

National security adviser Ajit Doval met Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi to review progress and outline ways to advance boundary delimitation discussions.

India on Tuesday emphasised that peace and tranquillity along the border with China are essential for the overall development of bilateral relations, as the special representatives of the two countries met in Beijing to discuss boundary delimitation and trans-boundary cooperation.

National security adviser Ajit Doval, India’s special representative, met his Chinese counterpart, foreign minister Wang Yi, for the 25th round of talks under the mechanism established in 2003 to work out a framework for resolving the dispute over the 3,488km border.

In a social media statement, the Indian embassy said the special representatives “positively reviewed” the momentum in bilateral ties, in line with directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and president Xi Jinping, and discussed ways to “make progress on boundary delimitation, while sustaining the ongoing work on transboundary cooperation”.

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The embassy added that both sides discussed expanding bilateral cooperation, maintaining stability, and ensuring peace and tranquillity in border areas.

According to a readout from the external affairs ministry, the Indian side “highlighted the importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity in the India-China border areas for the continued development and progress of the bilateral relationship”. The readout added that the special representatives had a “candid and in-depth” exchange on the boundary question and agreed to seek a political settlement in the “context of their overall and long-term interests”.

The two sides noted progress in implementing the consensus reached between Modi and Xi in Kazan in October 2024 and Tianjin in August 2025. They expressed satisfaction at the resumption of people-to-people and cross-border exchanges, including the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra and border trade through three designated trading passes.

A statement from China’s foreign ministry said both sides held “in-depth discussions on advancing border demarcation negotiations, strengthening border control, improving mechanisms, and promoting cross-border cooperation”. They reaffirmed their commitment to the political guiding principles finalised in 2005 and agreed to leverage the special representatives mechanism to seek a “fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable comprehensive solution” to the border issue.

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Neither side provided details on progress, if any, on negotiations focused on boundary delimitation and demarcation.

This was the third meeting of the special representatives since India and China reached an understanding in October 2024 to end a standoff in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that dragged on for more than four years and took ties to their lowest point since the 1962 border war. That understanding was followed by a meeting between Modi and Xi in Kazan, Russia, where they unveiled measures to normalise ties.

In his opening remarks, Doval described the talks as “very important”, as they were being held ahead of the Brics summit. “I am happy [that] over the past year, our relationship has been steadily returning to normalcy. The normalcy we have witnessed in our relationship has been a direct result of both sides maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” Doval said.

Xi is expected to make his first visit to India in seven years to attend the Brics summit in September. The talks also came weeks after reports of a face-off between Indian and Chinese troops along the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh.

While the Indian side insisted that the state of the border will determine the overall course of bilateral ties, Wang reiterated China’s position of putting the border issue in its “proper place” in the relationship.

Wang noted that institutionalised exchanges and cooperation are gradually resuming and both sides are “jointly committed to maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas”, China’s statement said.

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“Both sides should learn from historical experience, place the border issue in its proper place within bilateral relations, and move forward without stagnation, regression, or deviation...,” Wang said.