India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Tuesday said the restoration of normalcy in India-China ties has been a direct outcome of peace and tranquillity being maintained along the border, as he met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for crucial Special Representatives talks.
Holding an extensive round of talks, both Doval and Wang emphasised delivering on the "clear and positive" direction given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping to improve bilateral relations.
"I am very happy we are here for the 25th round of talks which are very important, particularly in the wake of the BRICS summit to happen shortly," Doval said in his opening remarks.
President Xi is widely expected to attend the BRICS summit scheduled to be held in New Delhi on Sept 12-13. Though China has not yet confirmed his participation in the summit, officials on both sides are optimistic about Xi's visit to India.
His visit would provide an opportunity for a meeting with Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of the summit to discuss initiatives to take forward bilateral ties.
"We meet in keeping with the guidance of our leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping, who have given clear and positive direction to our relationship both at Kazan and Tianjin," Doval said, referring to the leaders' summits on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia in 2024 and the SCO summit in China last year.
Referring to the progress made by the two countries in normalising the ties and the four-year standoff at eastern Ladakh, Doval said he was happy that over the past year the bilateral relationship has been steadily returning to normalcy.
“The normalcy we have witnessed in our relationship has been a direct result of both sides maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” he said.
“We have extensively talked about it today just to see how to effectively reinforce and further consolidate our efforts to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” he said in an apparent reference to differences over the border and Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as South Tibet.
Doval also talked about advances made by the two countries in improving people-to-people ties.
"The successful conduct of Kailash Manasarovar Yatra via Nathu La and resumption of our traditional border trade via all the three passes brought tangible benefits for our people, particularly people living in the border areas,” he said.
In his remarks, Wang said the China-India relationship has gone beyond the bilateral scope and taken on global and strategic significance.
“It is important for us to step up communication, to enhance mutual trust, to remove disturbances and overcome obstacles. We need to be good friends that enjoy good neighbourliness and be good partners that contribute to each other’s success,” he said.
Wang also talked about adding new impetus to the ties during the talks with Doval.
"I look forward to continuing to have in-depth exchange of views with you on issues of shared interest to better understand each other and to properly handle the boundary question, to not only maintain peace and tranquillity in the border area but also inject new impetus for the bilateral relationship,” he said.
Wang also said the two sides have stayed in regular communication through diplomatic and military channels on boundary affairs, implementing the guidance of PM Modi and President Xi.
Terming his talks with Doval as "very in-depth and candid," the Chinese minister expressed hope to reach “new consensus”.
Both Doval and Wang are the designated SRs for the boundary talks mechanism, which was established in 2003 to comprehensively address the dispute of the India-China border spanning 3,488 km.
While success eluded it in resolving the boundary dispute, officials on both sides regard the structured mechanism as a useful tool in addressing the recurring tensions between the two countries on various fronts.
The ties between New Delhi and Beijing came under severe strain after the 2020 Galwan Valley clash and the prolonged military stand-off in eastern Ladakh. But both sides have since taken steps to stabilise relations.
Ahead of the talks, Doval, who arrived here on a two-day visit on Monday, called on Chinese Vice President Han Zhang.
The two leaders discussed ways to strengthen peace and tranquillity in the border areas and further improve bilateral ties across economic, political and multilateral fora, in accordance with the consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries, the Indian Embassy said in a post on X.
During his meeting with Doval, Han said China and India should view and handle bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, and work together to implement the important consensus reached by their leaders.
"The two sides should enhance strategic mutual trust, tap the potential for cooperation, maintain close multilateral coordination, properly manage differences, and promote the sustained and stable development of China-India relations,” Han was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
In August last year, China and India successfully held the 24th round of talks, during which the two sides had candid and in-depth exchanges of views on the boundary question and reached a number of common understandings.
(With inputs from PTI)
