NSA Ajit Doval will soon go to Beijing; Visit to China will be after five years

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval may visit Beijing in the next few weeks. This will be his first official visit to China after almost five years. According to sources, during this time he will lead the Indian delegation in the Special Representative Talks (SR Dialogue) on the border issue. Earlier, the SR Dialogue was held in New Delhi in December 2019.

A meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on 23 October in Kazan decided to start this form of dialogue. Sources said that this visit by NSA Doval could materialize at the end of this month or in early January, though no official word has come yet on the venue. Significantly, a new round of talks is likely to begin between the two countries after the troops' withdrawal from Depsang and Demchok. While NSA Ajit Doval is India's special representative for the talks, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will do it on behalf of China. Due to the East Ladakh border dispute, no SR-level talks have happened in the last five years.

The military standoff between the two countries on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020. A deadly clash between the soldiers of the two countries occurred in the Galwan Valley in June of the same year, which led to serious tension in the relations between the two neighbors. The agreement to withdraw troops was finalized on 21 October. Two days after the signing of the agreement, PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan. During the meeting, both sides agreed to restore several dialogue mechanisms, including special representative talks on the border issue.