India and China are gearing up for a series of high-level bilateral engagements as part of the efforts to repair the bilateral ties, which came under a major strain following the clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in June 2020.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit China end of this month for the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) during which he will also meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be in India for two days from Monday to hold border talks with National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval.
Doval and Wang are the designated special representatives for the boundary talks between India and China. The two had met in June during the 20th Meeting of the SCO Security Council Secretaries. Doval and Wang had then reviewed the developments in India-China bilateral relations and underscored the need to promote the overall development of the India-China bilateral relations, including by fostering greater people-to-people ties.
During his visit to India, Wang will also hold talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
Diplomacy in motion
Although the recent India-Pakistan military conflict may have come in the way of India China ties as New Delhi had accused Beijing of providing real-time intelligence and substantial military support to Pakistan, there has been some thaw in the hostilities after the two sides reached agreement on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in India-China border areas in Depsang and Demchok in October, leading to disengagement from all the friction points of 2020.
The decision to revive various dialogue mechanisms was taken at a meeting between Modi and Xi in Kazan on October 23, 2024, two days after India and China firmed up the disengagement pact for Depsang and Demchok.
The upcoming high-level engagements could be seen as a significant progress in bilateral ties between the two countries.
"At the invitation of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India on August 18 and 19," the MEA said in a statement.
"During his visit, he will hold the 24th round of the Special Representatives' (SR) talks on the India-China boundary question with India's SR, NSA Doval," it added.
“From August 18 to 20, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Minister of Foreign Affairs and China’s Special Representative on the China-India boundary question Wang Yi will visit India and hold the 24th Round of Talks Between the Special Representatives of China and India on the Boundary Question at the invitation of the Indian side,” the Chinese foreign ministry said.
Doval travelled to China in December last year and held the SR talks with Wang, weeks after Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping decided to revive various dialogue mechanisms between the two sides at a meeting in the Russian city of Kazan.
India and China have initiated a number of initiatives to rebuild the ties, including the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and New Delhi restarting the issuance of tourist visas to Chinese nationals.
Global Times quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian as saying, "China stands ready to work with India to act on the important common understandings reached between leaders of our two countries, consistently increase political mutual trust, expand exchanges and cooperation together, properly handle differences while bearing in mind the bigger picture, and strengthen coordination and cooperation on such multilateral platforms as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, with a view to promoting the sound and steady development of China-India relations."
Both sides are also discussing the modalities to resume direct flight services between the two countries.
Besides, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Jaishankar visited China in the last two months to attend the SCO meetings.
