India and China have been at loggerheads for nearly five years before a major disengagement that took place at the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh earlier this year. The meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in October set the tone for improving ties between the two nations.
During the meeting, the two leaders pledged to resume dialogue and find a solution for effective border management. In this context, the meeting between Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to be held on Wednesday would be an all-important one in terms of border management. Yi and Doval would hold the 23rd meeting of Special Representatives for the China-India boundary question in Beijing on December 18. This meeting is important since it is the first one being held in the past five years. The last such meeting was held in New Delhi in December 2019, and since then, ties have frozen owing to tensions along the border that began in early 2020.
Since the border row began, tensions have soared and there was very little interaction between the two sides. The two sides only made regular statements emphasising the need to respect each other’s territorial integrity. However, the military commanders of both sides met regularly on both the Indian and Chinese sides. While these meetings did help in keeping the tempers low between the two sides, there was not much movement when it came to disengagement.
However, since the October meeting of the two leaders, there have been a lot of positives, and both sides are now eager to iron out all differences and manage the border effectively. The Ministry of External Affairs said in a late night statements that Dova and Yi would meet on December 18. The Chinese said that the meeting would take place.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in a statement, ‘Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval will meet on Wednesday in Beijing to discuss the boundary question.
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