Ajit Doval is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Monday for a crucial round of boundary talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi under the India-China Special Representatives mechanism.

The 25th round of discussions will take place on Tuesday and is being closely watched as both sides have repeatedly emphasised that peace along the border is essential for stabilising the wider relationship.

The timing of the meeting is significant, as it precedes the BRICS summit in New Delhi on 12–13 September. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend, though there is no official confirmation yet. Officials on both sides are optimistic that Xi’s participation could pave the way for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines, potentially advancing bilateral ties.

Doval and Wang Yi are the designated Special Representatives for the boundary talks mechanism, which was established in 2003 to comprehensively address the long-running dispute along the 3,488-km India-China border.

While the mechanism has not resolved the dispute, it has provided a useful channel for managing recurring tensions and preventing escalation across different fronts.

The two leaders last met in August last year during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin. Ahead of the latest round of talks, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar underscored that peace and tranquillity in the border areas remain essential for stable ties with China.

He noted that the particularly difficult period between the summer of 2020 and the autumn of 2024 was primarily due to the situation along the frontier. He stressed that the state of the border would, to a large measure, determine the state of relations.

Reports of aggressive posturing by Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh’s Upper Subansiri region in recent weeks have added urgency to the talks. On 12 August, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated that the border situation was “generally stable at the moment.”

He confirmed that the two sides had held the 36th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on Border Affairs, agreeing to maintain communication through diplomatic and military channels and jointly uphold peace and tranquillity.

On 11 August, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal reiterated that India considers matters relating to border areas with China as “most serious.” He emphasised that maintaining peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control is of “utmost importance,” as the state of the frontier will govern the overall trajectory of bilateral ties.

New Delhi also rejected Beijing’s criticism of its decision to formally identify 27 places and geographical features in Arunachal Pradesh by their standard names, 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 been issuing its own names for places in the region since 2017. India has described these actions as “vain and preposterous,” insisting that such moves will not alter the “undeniable” reality that the state “was, is, and will” always remain an integral part of India.




Against this backdrop, Doval’s visit to Beijing and the Special Representatives talks are being seen as a critical test of whether the fragile calm along the border can be consolidated into a broader stabilisation of ties. The outcome will be closely monitored as both sides prepare for the next phase of high-level engagement, including the BRICS summit in New Delhi.




Alternative Headline: