India, China Cite Progress in Ties as Doval and Wang Meet in Delhi

New Delhi: More than 18 months after India and China reached an agreement to resolve the eastern Ladakh military standoff, New Delhi on Monday said the two countries had made progress towards the "gradual normalisation" of bilateral relations, while Beijing assessed that ties had returned to a path of "recovery and improvement".

The assessment emerged from a meeting between National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the BRICS National Security Advisers' meeting in New Delhi.

According to the brief Indian readout posted by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)'s spokesperson, the two sides reviewed recent developments in bilateral relations and "noted progress towards gradual normalisation". Doval also underlined that "stable, predictable and constructive bilateral relations contribute to building of trust and better understanding between the two sides."

The MEA described the discussions as "constructive and forward-looking".

In its account of the meeting released on Tuesday, the Chinese foreign ministry said Wang told Doval that under the guidance of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, bilateral relations had "gradually emerged from the low point and returned to the track of recovery and improvement". Referring to the leaders' meetings in Kazan and Tianjin, Wang said both sides had agreed that China and India are "partners rather than competitors", describing this as the most important strategic consensus guiding the relationship.

In October 2024, India and China reached an agreement on patrolling arrangements in eastern Ladakh, which ended the last major point of military friction remaining from the four-year border standoff that had frozen ties.

Days after that breakthrough, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Kazan for their first bilateral meeting in five years and agreed to revive dormant dialogue mechanisms. Since then, both sides have steadily expanded engagement across diplomatic, economic and people-to-people channels.

The thaw has led to the resumption of direct flights, the easing of visa restrictions, the revival of the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra and a series of high-level exchanges, including Modi's visit to Tianjin for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in August 2025, his first trip to China in seven years.

According to the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang said that exchanges and cooperation across various sectors had gradually resumed, border areas had remained generally peaceful and stable, and the gains achieved in the recovery of ties should be carefully preserved.

Wang also urged India and China to accelerate the restoration of dialogue mechanisms and expand exchanges in trade, finance, law enforcement and media. He further called for efforts to foster a "correct understanding" of each other among different sections of society and build a stronger public foundation for improved bilateral ties.

The Chinese foreign minister also reiterated Beijing's longstanding position that the boundary dispute should not be allowed to dominate the broader relationship. According to the Chinese readout, Wang said the two sides should respect each other's core interests, properly handle sensitive issues and place the boundary question in an "appropriate position" to prevent it from affecting the overall development of bilateral ties.

He also linked closer China-India cooperation to the rise of the Global South and expressed support for India's role as BRICS chair, saying the grouping should help advance multipolarity and safeguard the interests of developing countries.

Hours after the Chinese foreign ministry released its account of the meeting, the MEA issued an additional clarification on the discussions.

In a late-night release, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Tuesday that Doval had stressed that stable, predictable and constructive bilateral relations would contribute to enhanced trust and deeper understanding between the two countries.

Jaiswal added that Doval had also emphasised the importance of "sensitivity being consistently displayed to each other's issues of core concern", describing this as part of India's approach of "mutual sensitivity, mutual interests and mutual respect".

The additional statement came after the Chinese readout repeatedly emphasised respect for each other's 'core interests' and 'core concerns'.

The Chinese account also highlighted Taiwan, stating that Doval had said India's position on the issue had not changed.

According to Beijing's account, Doval said India's position on the Taiwan issue "has not changed" and that India was willing to support each other's core concerns while jointly safeguarding multilateralism and the interests of developing countries.

Neither the original Indian social media post on Monday nor the subsequent MEA statement on Tuesday mentioned Taiwan.

At the weekly media briefing on Tuesday, Jaiswal was specifically asked about the Chinese claim that India had reiterated its position on Taiwan during the Doval-Wang meeting. In response, he repeated the government's public readout, saying only that the two sides had reviewed recent developments in bilateral relations, noted progress towards gradual normalisation and held "forward-looking and constructive" discussions. He did not address the Taiwan reference.

This echoes a similar discrepancy during Wang's visit to New Delhi in August 2025. At the time, Chinese statements said India had reaffirmed support for the One China principle. India subsequently issued a clarification stating there had been "no change" in its position and stressing that its engagement with Taiwan remained focused on economic, technological and cultural ties.

Doval and Wang have been at the centre of that process through the Special Representatives mechanism, which remains the highest-level channel for discussions on the boundary question. During their previous meeting in New Delhi in August last year, two sides agreed to establish an expert group under the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs to explore an "early harvest" in boundary delimitation.

At that meeting, both countries also agreed to begin discussions on de-escalation along the Line of Actual Control and reiterated the need to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable framework for settling the boundary dispute in accordance with the 2005 agreement on political parameters and guiding principles.

The latest Doval-Wang talks came less than a month after Indian and Chinese officials met in Beijing under the WMCC framework. According to the Indian readout, the two sides discussed issues related to delimitation, border management, mechanism building and cross-border cooperation, while agreeing to make "substantive preparation" for the next round of Special Representatives talks.

This article was updated and republished at 2.12 pm IST on June 23, 2026, and updated again on 10:11 pm the same day.

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