Border issue figured prominently at Wang Yi-Doval meeting

New Delhi, Mar 25: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are understood to have held talks on Friday focusing on the eastern Ladakh row and the geopolitical implications of the crisis in Ukraine, according to news agency PTI.

Wang arrived in Delhi on Thursday evening in the highest-level visit between the two countries after the ties came under severe strain following the military standoff in eastern Ladakh that began nearly two years ago.

The Chinese foreign minister arrived at Doval's office for talks at around 10 am. There is no official word on the meeting.

Wang is scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar after his talks with Doval.

The border issue is understood to have figured prominently in the meeting between Wang and Doval as they have been serving as the Special Representatives (SR) for boundary talks between the two countries.

Doval and Wang held a lengthy telephonic conversation in July 2020 and the talks focused on bringing down tension in eastern Ladakh.

India and China have been holding high-level military talks to resolve the face-off in the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh. Both sides withdrew troops already from some of the friction points following the talks.

On March 11, India and China held the 15th round of high-level military dialogue to resolve the pending issues in the eastern Ladakh region. However, there was no forward movement in the talks which were aimed at resolving the remaining issues.

As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process last year in the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area.

Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the sensitive sector.

(PTI)