Wang Yi to arrive tomorrow on 2-day visit, hold talks with Jaishankar & Doval

Wang and Doval are the designated Special Representatives for the boundary talks.

“At the invitation of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India on August 18 and 19,” the MEA said in a statement.

“During his visit, he will hold the 24th round of the Special Representatives’ (SR) talks on the India-China boundary question with India’s SR, NSA Doval,” it said.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will also hold bilateral talks with the visiting Chinese Foreign minister.

Doval travelled to China in December last year and held the SR talks with Wang, weeks after Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping decided to revive various dialogue mechanisms between the two sides at a meeting in the Russian city of Kazan in October.

PM Modi will embark on a visit to Japan around August 29 and after concluding the trip, he is expected to travel to the northern Chinese city of Tianjin for the SCO summit to be held on August 31 and September 1.

His visit to China is being planned amid efforts by the two neighbouring countries to repair their bilateral ties, which was impacted due to the border standoff in Galwan in June 2020. While the two sides have completed the disengagement process along the LAC, about 50,000 to 60,000 troops are still deployed along the border.

The two sides are discussing the next steps of de-escalation and de-induction of military troops.

At the same time, they are also working towards normalising ties by taking a few steps, including the resumption of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and New Delhi restarting tourist visas to Chinese nationals. Both sides are also discussing modalities to resume direct flight services between the two countries. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had travelled to China in this regard earlier this year.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Jaishankar visited China in the last two months to attend the SCO meetings; NSA Doval also travelled to China in June for the SCO special representatives’ meeting.

EAM, Lammy discuss Ukraine conflict

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday spoke to his British counterpart David Lammy and discussed various aspects of the Ukraine conflict, including the US-Russia summit talks on it. The call was initiated by the British side. “Our discussions covered the recent Ukraine developments and other issues,” Jaishankar said on X. PTI