India - China boundary talks to be held in New Delhi
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NEW DELHI - India and China will hold another round of boundary talks in New Delhi on Friday, in the first parleys under the special representative mechanism since the 73-day Doklam standoff.
Crisis management at the border, operationalising a hotline between the militaries and continuing discussions on clarifying the line of actual control (LAC) could be in focus when Chinese and Indian diplomats meet for the 20th round of SR-level talks.
State councillor Yang Jiechi will lead a team of diplomats to New Delhi to meet his designated counterpart for the talks, India’s national security advisor AK Doval.“The SR meeting is not only a high-level channel for the border issue discussion but also the platform for strategic communication. This also allows the two sides to exchange views on the international and regional issues of major concern,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.
China and India institutionalised the SR mechanism in 2003, envisaging it as a three-step process.
New Delhi and Beijing reached an agreement on guiding principles and setting political parameters for a settlement in 2005. The two neighbours are now negotiating the second phase of working out a settlement framework, and the final step will be drawing a border line based on the framework agreement.
The 73-day military standoff at Doklam (Donglang) near the Sikkim border earlier this year will remain a big reference point at the discussion.
