New Delhi: The special representatives (SRs) of India and China are planning to meet this month in Beijing in what would be the first meeting between the two national security advisers (NSAs) under the SR mechanism in three years.
Foreign ministry officials of the two countries met here on Thursday to firm up the SR meeting as decided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in October.
The two sides are now working on the dates for the visit of NSA Ajit Doval to China, ET has learnt. The SR meeting will be followed by a foreign secretary-deputy minister level meeting to finetune the way forward in the relationship after the de-escalation along the border in Ladakh.
The SR-level meeting will focus on de-escalation and the larger boundary question besides various aspects of geopolitics.
The SR mechanism was set up when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the PM and was aimed at addressing the boundary dispute.
The 32nd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) was held here on Thursday to prepare for the next edition of the SR mechanism meeting.
The two sides positively affirmed the implementation of the most recent disengagement agreement which completed the resolution of the issues that emerged in 2020, officials said.
This was the first WMCC meeting since the border agreement and the Kazan meeting.
The two foreign ministers during their meeting in Rio in November also decided that the two SRs and foreign secretaries would meet soon. The two NSAs last met in St Petersburg this year on the sidelines of the BRICS NSA meet. But that was not in the SR mechanism format and they focused on early disengagement at the two remaining friction points in Ladakh.
The Indian delegation at the WMCC meeting was led by MEA joint secretary (East Asia) Gourangalal Das, while the Chinese side was headed by Hong Liang, director general of the Boundary & Oceanic Affairs Department at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Both sides reviewed the situation in border areas and reflected on the lessons learnt from the events of 2020 in order to prevent their recurrence. They highlighted the importance of regular exchanges and contacts at diplomatic and military levels through established mechanisms. They agreed on the need for effective border management and maintenance of peace and tranquillity in accordance with relevant bilateral agreements, protocols and understandings reached between the two governments, officials said. The leader of the Chinese delegation also called on the foreign secretary during the visit.
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