India, China to hold boundary negotiation late December

Indian and Chinese negotiators mandated to work out a way to resolve the protracted boundary dispute are likely to hold yet another round of parleys this month - first time after New Delhi's August 5 moves on Jammu and Kashmir drew flak from the communist country.

Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councilor, Wang Yi, is expected to visit New Delhi later this month. He is expected to have a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Wang is also likely to hold the 22nd round of boundary negotiation with his counterpart – Modi's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval – during his visit to New Delhi, sources told the DH.

Doval and Wang are currently the Special Representatives of India and China for boundary negotiations. The two Special Representatives held the 21st round of negotiations at Sichuan in China in November 2018. They were expected to hold the 22nd round in New Delhi in September, but it was postponed.

Ever since New Delhi on August 5 moved to strip the state of Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and to reorganize the state into two Union Territories, Pakistan has been running a diplomatic campaign against India. China too has been opposing Modi Government's decisions on J&K – not only to stand by its “iron brother” Pakistan but also because it was concerned over the implication of the move on its protracted boundary dispute with India.

The Chinese Government perceived it as New Delhi's “unilateral” moves to change the status quo in the disputed territory and to strengthen its claim – not only on areas of Kashmir under the occupation of Pakistan, but also on 5180 sq. kms of areas ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963 as well as on Aksai Chin – a disputed territory between India and China.

The second “informal summit” between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a seaside resort near Chennai on October 11 and 12 saw both leaders asking the Special Representatives of the two nations to continue efforts to arrive at “a mutually-agreed framework for a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement” based on the “Political Parameters and Guiding Principles”, which were agreed upon in 2005.