India and China are holding a fresh round of high-level boundary talks in Beijing on Tuesday, 25 August, as both sides attempt to preserve a fragile improvement in relations while confronting renewed tensions along their disputed frontier.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are leading the 25th round of Special Representatives’ Talks on the boundary question. Both are designated special representatives of their countries.

Doval arrived in Beijing on Monday for a two-day visit at Wang’s invitation and has already met Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng.

The meeting comes weeks before Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to travel to New Delhi for the BRICS summit on 12–13 September. If confirmed, it would mark his first visit to India in seven years.

China’s foreign ministry has described the Special Representatives’ mechanism as the “main channel” for negotiating the boundary dispute and an important platform for discussing wider bilateral issues.

The two sides are expected to focus on maintaining peace along the Line of Actual Control, preventing fresh confrontations between patrols, and advancing talks on boundary delimitation.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Monday that “during this round of talks, the two sides will continue the in-depth communication on the boundary question…to jointly keep the border areas peaceful and tranquil.”

Doval and Wang are also expected to discuss bilateral relations and international and regional developments.

At their previous round in New Delhi in August 2025, the two countries agreed to create new mechanisms to advance boundary negotiations, including a working group on delimitation. Discussions were to be expanded to the eastern and middle sectors, while another round of consultations covering the western sector was also planned.

Relations had plunged to their lowest point in decades after Indian and Chinese troops fought in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley in June 2020. Twenty Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops were killed in hand-to-hand combat, triggering a prolonged military standoff and the deployment of tens of thousands of troops, artillery, and other equipment.

Several rounds of military and diplomatic negotiations produced phased disengagement at friction points including Pangong Tso, Gogra, and Hot Springs.

A major breakthrough came in October 2024, when the two countries agreed on patrolling arrangements at Depsang and Demchok, the final two friction points linked to the 2020 standoff.

The agreement allowed troops to withdraw and patrolling to resume, paving the way for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping to hold their first formal bilateral meeting in five years.

The thaw subsequently expanded beyond the border. High-level political visits resumed, the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra was restored, and direct passenger flights restarted in October 2025 after a gap of more than five years. The two sides also agreed to facilitate visas and revive border trade through designated points.

Doval and Wang last met in New Delhi in June, when they noted progress towards the “gradual normalisation” of relations.

Despite improving diplomatic ties, key issues remain unresolved. The fundamental dispute over the boundary has not been settled. India and China share a roughly 3,800-km frontier, much of which is undemarcated, and the two countries do not agree on where the Line of Actual Control lies.

China controls Aksai Chin in the western sector, which India claims as part of Ladakh. In the east, Beijing claims almost all of Arunachal Pradesh, describing it as “Zangnan” or southern Tibet. India rejects the claim and maintains that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of the country.

The October 2024 agreement addressed patrolling and disengagement at specific points but did not settle competing territorial claims or establish an agreed boundary.

Arunachal Pradesh remains a recurring flashpoint. China has issued Chinese names for places in the state and protested visits by Indian leaders and infrastructure development there. India has dismissed such measures as attempts to advance “invented” claims.

The disagreement intensified in November 2025 when Arunachal-born Indian citizen Prema Wangjom Thongdok was stopped during a transit halt at Shanghai airport. She said officials refused to recognise her Indian passport because it listed Arunachal Pradesh as her birthplace and kept her from boarding her onward flight for about 18 hours.

India lodged a strong protest and sought assurances that its citizens would not be selectively targeted or harassed at Chinese airports. Beijing denied that she had been detained and said the checks were conducted according to Chinese laws.

Another unresolved issue is China’s mega-dam project on the Yarlung Zangbo river in Tibet, which becomes the Brahmaputra after entering India.

India has raised concerns about the hydropower project, seeking greater transparency and the sharing of hydrological information. New Delhi has warned that the project could affect downstream states. Beijing has insisted that the project is safe and will not adversely affect lower riparian countries.

The outcome of the current round of talks will be closely watched, as it could determine whether the fragile calm along the border can be consolidated into a broader stabilisation of ties between the two Asian giants.

Agencies