Chinese FM Wang to visit India on Aug 18 ahead of PM Modi's China trip

New Delhi: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to visit India on Monday to hold border talks with NSA Ajit Doval, days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's planned trip to China to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The Chinese foreign minister is visiting India primarily to hold the next round of Special Representatives (SR) dialogue on the boundary question, authoritative sources said on Wednesday.

Wang and Doval are the designated special representatives for the boundary talks.

The NSA travelled to China in December last 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.

It is learnt that Wang will also hold a separate meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Modi is expected to travel to China later this month to attend the SCO summit.

As per the plan, Modi will embark on a visit to Japan around August 29 and after concluding the trip, he will travel to the northern Chinese city of Tianjin for the summit to be held on August 31 and September 1.

Modi's visit to China is being planned amid efforts by the two sides to repair their bilateral ties which came under severe strain following the deadly clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in June 2020.

The military standoff in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020 and the clashes at the Galwan Valley in June that year resulted in a severe strain in ties.

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

The decision to revive various dialogue mechanisms was taken at the meeting between Modi and Xi in Kazan on October 23, 2024.

The Modi-Xi meeting came two days after India and China firmed up a disengagement pact for Depsang and Demchok.

The two sides also initiated a number of initiatives to rebuild the ties that included resumption of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and New Delhi restarting issuance of tourist visas to Chinese nationals.

Both sides are also discussing modalities to resume direct flight services between the two countries.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited China in the last two months to attend SCO meetings.

China is the current chair of the SCO.