China, India should move forward without stagnation, deviation: Top diplomat Wang

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Tuesday said China and India should draw lessons from history, place the boundary question appropriately in bilateral relations, and keep “moving forward without stagnating, backtracking or veering off course.”

Wang made the remarks during the 25th round of talks between special representatives of China and India on the boundary question in Beijing, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement.

Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval led the Indian side.

Wang said healthy and stable China-India relations serve the fundamental interests of both peoples and have global and strategic significance.

He said both sides are implementing agreements reached at previous special representatives’ meetings, with institutionalized exchanges and cooperation gradually resuming, and efforts continuing to maintain peace and tranquility in border areas.

India said the two sides "positively" reviewed the "ongoing momentum" in relations between the two countries.

"They discussed ways to further expand bilateral cooperation, maintain stability and ensure peace and tranquility in the border areas, and make progress on boundary delimitation, while sustaining the ongoing work on transboundary cooperation," the Indian Embassy in Beijing said in a post on US social media platform X.

The talks were described by the Chinese Foreign Ministry as comprehensive, in-depth, friendly and candid.

Doval also met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng in Beijing.

China and India share a roughly 3,800-kilometer (2,400-mile), undemarcated border at many places.

The meeting also comes as New Delhi is set to host a BRICS leaders’ summit next month.

Whether China’s President Xi Jinping attends the summit remains to be seen.

He last visited India in 2019.