PM Modi and President Jinping met at an informal summit in Chennai in October
Indian and Chinese representatives will meet in Delhi today to discuss the international boundary between the two countries; this will be the 22nd round of Special Representative-level (SR) Indo-China border talks and the first interaction since an informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping in Chennai earlier this year. The Indian delegation will be led by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the Chinese side by Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
During the 21st round of talks - held at Chegndu in China last year - both sides resolved to "intensify" and "advance" dialogue for an early settlement of the boundary dispute. The two also emphasised the importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity along the border and directed their respective militaries to employ a number of mechanisms to improve on-ground relations between troops.
This year's talks were to be held in September ahead of President Jinping's visit to Chennai last month but it was postponed to "scheduling issues", officials from both sides said.
The meeting was back on the agenda after PM Modi and President Jinping met in Chennai and again on the side-lines of the BRICS summit in Brazil last month.
After the Chennai summit the Chinese President said: "We will seek a fair and reasonable solution to the border issue that is acceptable to both sides in accordance with the agreement on political guiding principles".
The President also suggested both countries needed to improve levels of military and security exchanges and cooperation, something Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke about last month.
"...informed by my jawans that at this India-China border, which is LaC (Line of Actual Control), we are working sensibly and Chinese PLA (People's Liberation Army) is also operating sensibly. There is no tension here... near Bum La Pass," he told reporters.
Special Representative-level (SR) talks are the highest official-level forum with a mandate to discuss not only solutions to the boundary issue but also those for other issues concerning the two countries.
The India-China border dispute covers 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC). China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet, something India fiercely contests.