India-China Border Talks Aim for ‘Early Harvest’ as Modi Confirms China Visit

New Delhi: India and China on Tuesday (August 19) announced fresh steps on their long-stalled boundary talks, with New Delhi saying a new working group is being set up for an “early harvest” in delimitation, and Beijing stating that discussions would begin “where conditions permit”.

The announcement came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed he will travel to Tianjin later this month for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, his first visit to China in seven years, and hold talks with President Xi Jinping, saying ties had improved through respect for each other’s sensitivities.

In a post on X after meeting Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi at his residence, Modi said that since his discussions with Xi in Kazan last year, India-China relations had “made steady progress guided by respect for each other's interests and sensitivities”.

It was a ringing endorsement of the current trajectory of ties at the highest level, despite lingering concerns over Pakistan and trade that have periodically cast a shadow.

He added that he looked forward to meeting Xi again in Tianjin on the sidelines of the summit that starts on August 31.

“Stable, predictable, constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional as well as global peace and prosperity,” Modi wrote.

Earlier in the day, Wang co-chaired the 24th round of Special Representative (SR)-level talks in New Delhi with national security adviser Ajit Doval, who had also referred to Modi’s upcoming visit in his opening remarks.

“Our prime minister will be visiting for the SCO summit shortly. Therefore, I think that this high-level talk assumes a very special importance,” Doval said.

He added that ties had been on an “upward trend” over the past nine months, marked by “quiet borders” and “more substantial” bilateral engagements.

“I’m very happy that since then, in the last nine months, there has been an upwards trend. Borders have been quiet. There has been peace and tranquillity. Our bilateral engagements have been more substantial,” Doval said. “This is the 75th year of our diplomatic relations and it's time to celebrate.”

Doval also stressed that it was “necessary” for India and China to draw closer as “the international situation is currently turbulent” and they face “common challenges”.

Both countries now face the threat of steep US tariffs. For China, the country-specific measures remain in abeyance until November as Washington and Beijing continue talks on a possible trade deal. For India, however, an additional 25% duty imposed by the US as a penalty for purchasing Russian oil will take effect next week, raising total tariffs on Indian goods to 50% – the highest in the world alongside Brazil.

‘Early harvest’ in boundary delimitation

According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the SRs agreed on five outcomes. Most notably, India said the two sides would set up “an Expert Group, under the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC), to explore early harvest in boundary delimitation in the India-China border areas”.

China’s statement on the outcomes of the Special Representatives-level meeting endorsed India’s announcement, though with a subtle difference. It said the working group would “explore the advancement of delimitation negotiations in areas where conditions are ripe.”

A three-phase process for resolving the boundary dispute had been outlined a decade earlier. A 2014 MEA briefing after the 17th round of SR talks explained that the first step was agreement on guiding principles, followed by discussions on a “framework for the resolution of the boundary question”, which is still pending. The third step, the MEA spokesperson said then, would be the demarcation of maps and delimitation on the ground.

The MEA’s outcome document, echoed by the Chinese foreign ministry, stated that the two SRs agreed on “the need to take a political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship while seeking a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable framework for settlement of the boundary question in accordance with the Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for Settlement of the India-China Boundary Question signed in 2005.”

So far, India and China have exchanged maps only in the central sector of their disputed boundary. Efforts to extend the process to the more sensitive western and eastern sectors broke down in 2002-2003, and no further official map exchanges have taken place.

China first publicly raised the prospect of an “early harvest on the border issue” in May 2017, when then-ambassador Luo Zhaohui listed it as one of four points for a “long-term vision for China-India relations”.

During the Doklam crisis, China issued a 15-page note in August 2017 stating that “Chinese and Indian sides have been in discussion on making the boundary in the Sikkim Sector an ‘early harvest’ in the settlement of the entire boundary question during the meetings between the Special Representatives on the China-India Boundary Question”.

A December 2019 Chinese press release following the 22nd round of SR talks also noted that the two sides “exchanged views on the early harvest of the boundary negotiations and reached a consensus on strengthening confidence-building measures.” The Indian readout, however, did not mention this.

Additionally, the two countries agreed to establish General Level Mechanisms in the eastern and middle sectors and to hold an early meeting of the existing mechanism in the western sector.

They also committed to using existing diplomatic and military channels to carry forward border management and to discuss de-escalation “beginning with the principles and modalities”.

Connectivity and trade measures

Beyond the boundary issue, some of the most tangible outcomes came from Tuesday’s meeting between Wang and external affairs minister S. Jaishankar. Both countries agreed to resume flights and finalise a new air services pact. The MEA said they also pledged to ease visas for “tourists, businesses, media and other visitors”.

The two governments also agreed to reopen border trade through the Lipulekh, Shipki La and Nathu La passes.

On people-to-people exchanges, both sides recorded that the High-Level Mechanism would meet in India in 2026 and that the scale of Indian pilgrimages to Kailash-Mansarovar would expand.

The MEA also flagged cooperation on trans-border rivers, saying discussions would continue renewing the existing memorandum of understanding and that China would share hydrological data “during emergencies on humanitarian grounds”.

As the Chinese statement put it, “China agreed to share emergency hydrological information on the relevant rivers with India on the basis of humanitarian principles”.

Official sources had earlier told reporters that Wang had assured Jaishankar that China is "addressing India’s needs of fertilisers, rare earths and tunnel boring machines”, but it is not explicitly mentioned in the Indian or Chinese readouts.

Taiwan issue

In response, the Indian press release underlined that “there was no change in its position on this issue”.

It pointed out that “like the rest of the world, India had a relationship with Taiwan that focuses on economic, technological and cultural ties and that this would continue. The Indian side noted that China also cooperates with Taiwan in these very domains,” it added.

This makes it clear that India still does not have political or diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which underpins the One-China policy, even if the phrase itself remains unstated.

India and Taiwan have maintained representative offices in each other’s capitals since 1995, with the India-Taipei Association in Taipei and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in New Delhi.

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