Wang Yi and Ajit Doval
NEW DELHI: In a major breakthrough in India-China relations on Tuesday, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi co-chaired the 24th round of the Special Representatives’ talks on the boundary issue to explore “early harvest” in border areas.The talks focused on long-standing border issues, where both sides agreed to set up an Expert Group under the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) to work on early progress in boundary delimitation.WMCC, created in 2012, is a framework that helps India and China communicate and coordinate on border-related matters.The decision came during Wang Yi’s visit to India. On his first day, he met EAM S Jaishankar. On Tuesday, he met NSA Doval and later Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, where he handed over President Xi Jinping’s invitation for PM Modi to attend the SCO Summit in China.This will be Prime Minister Modi’s first visit to China in seven years, his last being in June 2018 for the SCO Summit.The India-China talks took place against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s tough stance on countries, including his decision to impose steep tariffs, with a 50 per cent duty on India.After his meeting with Yi, PM Modi reaffirmed India’s commitment to finding a fair and mutually acceptable resolution to the boundary issue and stressed that stable and constructive relations between the two nations are essential for peace and prosperity in the region and beyond.Under the guidance of the leaders of both countries, the two sides had an open and constructive discussion on the boundary issue and agreed on the following steps:
- Both sides will look at the boundary issue from a political perspective and work towards a fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable settlement, in line with the 2005 Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles.
- An Expert Group will be formed under the WMCC to explore “early harvest” in boundary delimitation in border areas.
- A Working Group will be set up under the WMCC to improve border management and maintain peace and stability in border regions.
- New General Level Mechanisms will be created in the Eastern and Middle sectors, in addition to the existing one in the Western sector. An early meeting of the Western Sector mechanism will also be held.
- Both sides will use existing diplomatic and military mechanisms for border management and will also discuss de-escalation, starting with its principles and modalities.
