00:00Breaking news, it's coming in. This is with regards to NSC Ajit Doval to visit Beijing Monday.
00:05That is tomorrow. It's Alpha Talks with the Chinese counterpart, Manjeev Meghi.
00:09National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will be traveling to Beijing for high-level talks with his Chinese counterpart
00:15in what is being seen as a significant diplomatic engagement coming weeks ahead of Xi Jinping,
00:21the Chinese president, scheduled to visit India for BRICS summit.
00:25Now, Doval, who's also India's special representative for the boundary talks,
00:28is expected to hold discussion with the Chinese foreign minister and top diplomat Wang Yi,
00:32who is China's special representative on the boundary question.
00:36Now, on that very note, we have Pranay Upadhyay joining us on the broadcast with more details.
00:41Pranay, very good evening to you.
00:43This comes in as quite an important visit that we'll be seeing from NSC Ajit Doval himself,
00:50with a lot being on the plate.
00:52Of course, Xi Jinping himself to visit India in just a few weeks' time for the BRICS summit.
00:59Good evening, Shreya, and you're absolutely right.
01:02This is going to be a very important engagement between India and China
01:05because the special representative level mechanism is very significant,
01:09especially in terms of the boundary dispute.
01:12And this is going to be the first SR-level talks after both India and China decided to form a
01:18new mechanism,
01:19new working groups to resolve the boundary issue.
01:22And there is a forward movement post-Galwan, and especially after the recent roundup reports of some border tensions.
01:31So this is going to be a very important visit.
01:33And as you rightly mentioned, you could recall, Shreya, that on 31st July,
01:37India Today first broke the story that there's going to be SR-level talks as well as there will be
01:42a WMCC meeting,
01:43which is a working mechanism for coordination and communication on boundary issue.
01:47So that meeting took place a few days ago, and now India's national security advisor
01:52and special representative on boundary issue, Ajit Doval, is likely to visit to Beijing.
01:56And this visit is not only in terms of boundary talks between SR-level mechanism between India and China,
02:03but it's also going to be very important in terms of Chinese President Xi Jinping's forthcoming visit to India
02:09for the BRICS summit in mid-September.
02:13Very true, Pranay.
02:15And, you know, when we are looking at this very visit, as you've said,
02:19that in the latest times, in the recent times, that is,
02:23there has been a major shift in terms of how India and China engages on the border policy on Galwan,
02:31which has historically been a bone of contention,
02:34that that sensitive area of LAC has been a bone of contention between the two countries.
02:38So when two representatives and higher representatives of this kind meet,
02:44we do see that the conversation, the dialogue on that front shall also be taken up,
02:49and it's not just the BRICS summit that shall be in focus?
02:54You know, as far as the SR-level mechanism is concerned,
02:58that is exclusive for the boundary issue.
03:01And this is the highest mechanism because both these representatives,
03:04SR, like special representatives, are both the leaders.
03:07And in fact, you can recall that the first meeting also took place
03:11after the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
03:15And after that, both countries decided to take forward the boundary talks,
03:21you know, resolution of the issues,
03:22or at least maintaining tranquility and peace on line of actual control.
03:26Because the 3,488-kilometer-long line of control
03:31has remained an issue of tension between India and China,
03:35and especially post-Galwan.
03:37Now, new efforts are being made to resolve this issue.
03:40And as I mentioned, that both countries have decided
03:42to form new working mechanism, working groups.
03:45And a sectoral approach is now being taken to resolve this issue,
03:51to minimize the differences, and to maximize consensus
03:53how the boundary issue can be approached.
03:56But besides that, since NSA is also, you know,
03:59a special representative of India,
04:01not only in terms of the boundary issue,
04:03but also as Prime Minister's special representative,
04:06he'll also likely to call on Chinese President Xi Jinping
04:09during his Beijing visit.
04:10And also, you know, he'll be conveying the invitation,
04:14or reiterating India's invitation for Chinese President Xi Jinping
04:18to visit India for the BRICS summit,
04:21which is scheduled to take place on 12th and 13th of September next month.
04:25Right. Thank you, Pranay,
04:28for putting all of that into context for our viewers.
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