Days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming engagements with President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in September, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Monday to participate in the India-China Special Representatives talks on the boundary issue with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
Doval and Wang are scheduled to hold the 25th round of India-China Special Representatives talks on Tuesday, news agency PTI reported.
Both Doval and Wang are the designated Special Representatives for the boundary talks mechanism. Established in 2003, the talks aim to comprehensively address the vexed boundary dispute of the India-China border spanning 3,488 km.
Notably, the talks, scheduled for Tuesday, come at a crucial time as they are being held ahead of the much-anticipated visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to India to attend the BRICS summit in New Delhi on September 12-13.
While there is no official confirmation on Xi’s visit, officials on both sides are optimistic about the Chinese leader’s participation. Xi’s visit to New Delhi is set to provide an opportunity for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the summit to discuss initiatives to take forward bilateral ties.
Both Xi and Prime Minister Modi last met in August 2025 on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin. In 2024 as well, both leaders held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS Summit in Russia’s Kazan.
The Chinese President last visited India in October 2019, when he travelled to Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu for the second informal summit with Prime Minister Modi.
It will be the first visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to India after the 2020 Galwan border clashes. Apart from Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin will also attend the BRICS Summit