NSA Doval to visit Beijing for 25th round of India-China border talks

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is set to arrive in Beijing on Monday for the 25th round of India-China Special Representatives talks on the boundary issue with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.The talks are scheduled to take place on Tuesday, according to official sources, as cited by PTI.The talks come ahead of the expected visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to India for the BRICS summit in New Delhi on September 12-13.While Beijing has not officially confirmed Xi’s participation, officials on both sides remain optimistic that he will attend, potentially opening the way for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss steps to advance bilateral ties.Doval and Wang serve as the designated Special Representatives for the boundary talks mechanism, established in 2003 to seek a comprehensive resolution to the India-China border dispute, which stretches 3,488 km.Although the mechanism has not resolved the boundary dispute, officials on both sides consider it a useful platform for managing recurring tensions and addressing differences between the two countries.Doval and Wang last met in August 2025 on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin.Ahead of the upcoming talks in Beijing, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday reiterated that peace and tranquillity along the border are essential for maintaining good relations between India and China.External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said earlier this month that India views issues concerning the border areas with China as “most serious” and stressed that maintaining peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is of “utmost importance”. He said the situation along the frontier would determine the overall trajectory of India-China relations.New Delhi had earlier rejected Beijing’s criticism of India’s decision to assign official names to 27 places and geographical features in Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the state is an “inalienable and integral” part of India and that nothing can change this “indisputable reality”.China, which claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet, has issued its own set of names for places in the region since 2017.India has dismissed the practice as “vain and preposterous”, maintaining that such actions cannot alter the “undeniable” reality that Arunachal Pradesh “was, is, and will” always remain an integral part of India.Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.