NSA to hold strategic talks in China next week

NEW DELHI: After a long period of relative quiet, India and China are talking again at the top level. National security adviser Ajit Doval will travel to China next week for a strategic dialogue with his counterpart Yang Jiechi. Doval will follow defence minister Manohar Parrikar who will also be in Beijing for talks next week.

This will be the first such dialogue between India and China in over a year. The two sides were scheduled to hold talks in January but Doval cancelled his visit to Beijing in the wake of the Pathankot terror attack. The dialogue, which will be held over a single day in Beijing, will cover some boundary talks and some strategic issues.

India and China have not had a dedicated boundary discussion for a long time now. This is probably due to the fact that after the border incursion during President Xi Jinping’s visit in September 2014, there has been little activity reported from the border areas. There was a second incursion in the Depsang area in Ladakh in the spring of 2015 as Indian and Chinese armies faced off, but it was resolved fairly quietly.

The second reason is the boundary resolution is dependent on the political leadership signing off on the understanding already reached between the two sides after 13 rounds of discussions during the previous UPA government.

However, this has been among the longest periods of inactivity between India and China. In the meantime, China has announced a $46 billion economic corridor through Pakistan and a section of territory claimed by India as a flagship project in the ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative. It has taken its place in the Taliban reconciliation talks as part of the Quad. Last week, China refused to let terrorist Masood Azhar be proscribed by the UN Security Council, in support of Pakistan.