Doval in Beijing: Modi-Xi guidance gives 'clear, positive direction' to India-China ties

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held the 25th round of Special Representatives (SR) talks on the boundary question in Beijing on Tuesday (August 25, 2026). The two sides spent several hours in consultation, beginning with detailed small-group discussions that lasted more than 90 minutes before moving to larger delegation-level talks.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Doval said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have given “a clear and positive direction” to the India-China relationship. He noted that the relationship has been “steadily returning to normalcy” over the past year, a development he attributed directly to both sides maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas.

“We meet in keeping with the guidance of our leaders Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping who have given clear and positive direction to our relationship both at Kazan and Tianjin,” Mr. Doval said, referring to their meetings in 2024 and last year. He described the current round of talks as “very important particularly in the wake of the BRICS Summit to happen shortly.”

President Xi is expected to attend the BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12, which would be his first visit to India in seven years.

Mr. Wang, a Politburo member, said the China-India relationship has “gone beyond the bilateral scope and taken on global and strategic significance.” He emphasised that a “sound and steadily growing China-India relationship serves the fundamental interests of our two peoples, meets the common expectations of the Global South countries, and also meets the trend of the times.”

“It is important for us to step up communication, to enhance mutual trust, to remove disturbances and overcome obstacles. We need to be good friends that enjoy good neighbourliness, and be good partners that contribute to each other's success,” Mr. Wang said.

Mr. Wang noted that institutional mechanisms between the two countries have resumed functioning and that both sides have been working to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas. He recalled that at the previous round of talks in New Delhi, common understandings were reached on delimitation, border management, mechanism building, and cross-border cooperation.

“Over the past year, our two sides have worked to deliver them on the ground and have made good progress,” he said, adding that this round would enable in-depth exchanges on issues of shared interest and help properly handle the boundary question, thereby injecting new impetus into bilateral relations.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Doval called on Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng. Mr. Han said both countries “should view and handle bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, and work together to implement the important consensus reached by their leaders.” He called for enhancing strategic mutual trust, tapping the potential for cooperation, maintaining close multilateral coordination, and properly managing differences to promote sustained and stable development of China-India relations.

The Special Representatives talks, established in 2003, are aimed at resolving the boundary dispute. The previous round was held in New Delhi last year, where both sides reached a set of common understandings. The resumption of these talks after a gap of several years was seen as a step towards stabilising ties following the border tensions that began in 2020. Mr. Doval's visit to Beijing marks the latest effort to consolidate the recent improvement in relations.