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Ajit Doval, Wang Yi resume border talks after 5 years
All the meetings between Ajit Doval and Wang Yi after December 2019 have taken place to discuss multilateral issues and not boundary resolution.
After a hiatus of five years, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will be meeting his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, for the institutionalised Special Representative Dialogue in Beijing to move towards enhancing peace and tranquility all along the 3,488 km Line of Actual Control.
All the meetings between Doval and Wang after December 2019 have taken place to discuss multilateral issues and not boundary resolution.
Taking guidance from the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping, Doval arrived in Beijing today for the scheduled SR talks on Wednesday.
It was during the Kazan BRICS meeting on October 24, that both the top leaders achieved a breakthrough by resolving the disengagement issue at Demchok and Depsang Bulge in East Ladakh, allowing both armies to fulfill their mandatory border patrolling activity in these areas.
Doval, Wang to consider new steps to strengthen peace along border
Both the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA could not patrol these areas after forces amassed on both sides post-May 2020 transgressions. It is understood that Doval and Wang will consider new steps to strengthen peace and tranquility all along the border while moving towards the next step of de-escalation and relocation in the contested East Ladakh LAC.
Post-May 2020, both sides had amassed troops and hardware from Karakoram Pass in the Western Sector to Kibuthoo in the Eastern Sector. It is learned that the PLA had moved light to medium combined armed brigades in the Eastern Sector before Xi was appointed the president for the third time.
While the Modi government remains tight-lipped on the Doval-Wang meeting, the two senior functionaries will also discuss proposals for the overall resolution of the vexed border.
But the key issue this time will be to carry the positive momentum build by the two leaders on disengagement in East Ladakh and take it towards de-escalation of forces from both sides.
As of now, the LAC in East Ladakh is stable with both Indian Army and PLA now conducting patrols in the Depsang Bulge area and the Charding Ningling Nullah junction in Demchok, apart from both sides addressing the pastoral and grazing rights of residents.
