NSA Doval's visit to China for talks on LAC dispute; will take part in the dialogue after five years

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval will be visiting Beijing on Tuesday. This is going to be his official visit to China after five years. According to Amar Ujala 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.

The decision to start this method of dialogue was taken in a meeting held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan on October 23. Sources said that this visit of NSA Doval could take place at the end of this month or in early January. However, no official statement has come yet on its venue.

It is worth noting that a new round of talks between the two countries is likely to begin after the withdrawal of troops from Depsang and Demchok. NSA Doval will represent India as the special representative of the talks while the Chinese side will be represented by Foreign Minister Wang Yi. No SR talks have taken place in the last five years in view of the East Ladakh border dispute.

The military standoff between the two countries on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020. In June of the same year, there was a deadly clash between the soldiers of the two countries in the Galwan Valley, which led to serious tension in relations between the two neighbors. The agreement to withdraw troops was finalized on 21 October. A full two days after inking this agreement, Indian PM Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping sat down for some discussions during the BRICS summit being held in Kazan, a Russian city. The two sides agreed upon the resumption of multiple dialogue mechanisms, including talks on border issues between their special representatives.