Chinese Foreign Minister in India, to hold boundary talks with NSA

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived here on Friday to hold boundary talks with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval under the framework of Special Representatives dialogue. Wang and Doval will hold the 22nd round of boundary talks on Saturday.

It is the first high-level visit from China to India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held the second informal summit in Mamallapuram in October as well as after New Delhi pulled out of the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). "The 22nd meeting of the Special Representatives (SR) for India-China boundary question will be held in New Delhi December 21," the MEA said announcing Wang's visit.

Doval and Wang are the designated Special Representatives of the two countries for the boundary talks. Sources said the two sides are likely to review implementation of decisions taken at the second informal summit between Modi and Xi in October.

Wang was to visit India for the SR talks in September but the trip was postponed then. The two sides have already held over 20 rounds of talks under the framework of SR dialogue which was set up to find an early solution to the border dispute.

The India-China border dispute covers 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas.