Ajit Doval heads to Beijing for 25th round of border talks with China

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will arrive in Beijing on Monday for the 25th round of India-China Special Representatives talks on the boundary issue, scheduled for Tuesday. Doval will meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, who also serves as China's foreign minister. The mechanism, established in 2003 to resolve the 3,488 km border dispute, has not yielded a resolution but is seen by both sides as a useful channel for managing tensions.

The talks come ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's expected visit to India for the BRICS summit in New Delhi on September 12-13. While Beijing has not officially confirmed Xi's attendance, officials on both sides are optimistic, with The Hindu noting this could open the way for a meeting between Xi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Times of India adds that the leaders last met in August 2025 on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Tianjin.

Ahead of the talks, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday that peace along the border is a prerequisite for good relations, referencing a difficult period from 2020 to 2024. The Hindu and Mathrubhumi report fresh tensions over Chinese military activity in Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Subansiri region, while China maintains the border situation is "generally stable". India recently rejected Beijing's objections to naming 27 places in Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as "South Tibet".