China urges India to uphold peace, tranquility ahead of crucial border talks
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BEIJING:China has urged India to uphold the tranquility and peace in the border while affirming that the 73-day Donglang standoff this summer posed a ”major test” on bilateral relations as the two Asian neighbors prepare for crucial talks on the boundary issue in New Delhi this week.
Hua Chunying on Wednesday announced that Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi will visit India to attend an annual meeting between special representatives from China and India on border issues on Friday, at the invitation of Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The border talks will be the first since the Donglang standoff ended on August 28, and will be led by China's State Councilor Yang Jiechi and India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, China Global Television Network (CGTN) commented in its report.
Yang and Doval last met in Beijing in July – at the height of the Donglang standoff – on the sidelines of the seventh meeting of BRICS senior representatives. After that meeting, the Chinese foreign ministry said Yang "elaborated China's position on bilateral issues and major problems," in a subtle reference to the standoff.
The July meeting was seen as the first step towards the eventual resolution of the border standoff in time for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the September 3-5 BRICS summit in Xiamen in China’s southeastern Fujian Province.
The mechanism of special representatives’ talks was created during India’s former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s China visit in 2003. It was a significant elevation from the previous official-level joint working group meetings.
The mechanism envisioned a three-step process for resolving border issues. New Delhi and Beijing reached an agreement on guiding principles and setting political parameters for a settlement in 2005.
Currently, the countries are negotiating the second phase of working out a settlement framework, which will be followed by the final step of drawing a border line based on the framework agreement.
“The Special Representatives' Meeting is not only a high-level channel for the two countries to hold talks on boundary questions but also an important platform for them to conduct strategic communication. It is held regularly every year by the two countries in turn," Hua said.
The Asian neighbors have so far held 19 rounds of special representatives’ talks in 14 years, the last of which was held in Beijing in April 2016, also led by the duo of Yang and Doval.
This week’s talks in New Delhi will resume the dialogue from the 10th round of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC), initiated in 2012 to maintain peace along the disputed border, held in Beijing in November.
The 20th special representatives' meeting also comes just days after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited India earlier this month as part of the trilateral Russia-India-China (RIC) meeting.
On the sidelines of the event, Wang held talks with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj and also met with Indian President Ram Nath Kovind.
Ahead of the meeting, the Chinese military protested the violation of its airspace by an Indian drone, which reportedly crash-landed.
During his talks with Swaraj, Wang had raised the Donglang incident and said that “lessons should be learned to prevent similar incidents from happening again,” according to a statement from China’s foreign ministry.
