NSA Ajit Doval to visit China this week for SR dialogue after 5 years

New Delhi: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will hold a new edition of the Special Representatives dialogue on the boundary question in Beijing on Wednesday, Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong said.

The Special Representatives (SR) dialogue between the two sides will take place after a gap of nearly five years. The last round of SR dialogue was held in New Delhi in December 2019.

As agreed by China and India, Wang and Doval will hold the 23rd meeting of Special Representatives for China-India boundary question in Beijing on December 18, Xu said in a post on 'X' on Monday night.

There is no comment from the Indian side on the SR dialogue.

The decision to revive the dialogue mechanism was taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan on October 23.

In their diplomatic talks on December 5, India and China prepared for the upcoming SR dialogue.

While India's Special Representative for the dialogue is NSA Doval, the Chinese side is headed at the talks by Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

There was no SR dialogue in the last five years in view of the eastern Ladakh border row.

The military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020 and a deadly clash at the Galwan Valley in June that year resulted in a severe strain in ties between the two neighbours.

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.

Two days after the pact was firmed up, Modi and Xi held talks on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in the Russian city of Kazan.

In the meeting, the two sides agreed to revive several dialogue mechanisms including the Special Representatives dialogue on boundary question.