Ajit Doval leaves for Beijing on Monday. The National Security Advisor sits down with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday for round 25 of the India-China special representatives' talks on the boundary question.
Diplomats on both sides have been watching this one closely for weeks.
Doval and Wang carry the title "Special Representatives" under a mechanism that goes back to 2003, built to chip away at the 3,488 km border dispute between the two countries. Progress has never come easy. The talks froze for nearly five years after the 2020 Galwan Valley clash and the standoff that followed in eastern Ladakh.
They only picked back up in December 2024, when round 23 happened in Beijing. Round 24 came next, in New Delhi, last August.
For Doval, this trip is a first. It's his opening visit to Beijing for SR-level talks since the 2024 restart. And it comes as both governments have been quietly signalling that ties are on the upswing.
What's Likely On The Agenda
Expect both sides to take stock of the October 2024 disengagement agreement. But has the calm along the Line of Actual Control actually held since the last round?
Beijing says the border situation is "generally stable." Officials on both sides say they have spent the months since round 24 chasing down what was agreed, all while gearing up for this next meeting.
Troop positions won't be the only thing on the table. De-escalation, delimitation, the wider machinery for managing border areas, all of it is expected to come up. India will likely push its concerns on cross-border terrorism too. It raised the same issue during round 24 last year.
Momentum From Recent Meetings
Doval and Wang last met in June, on the sidelines of the BRICS National Security Advisers' gathering in New Delhi. Both sides talked about progress toward "gradual normalisation" there. But that wasn't a formal SR meeting, which means Tuesday's session is actually the first real boundary-focused talks between the two since last August.
The thaw shows up elsewhere too. Direct flights are back. Visa rules have loosened. The Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage has resumed. Trade and investment have picked up, and bilateral trade hit record levels in 2025.
Why This Round Carries Extra Weight
Diplomats are already looking beyond Tuesday. A possible visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to India later in September, for the BRICS summit, is on everyone's mind.
If Beijing goes well, it could pave the way for that trip and for more contact between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping down the line.
