Days after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi reached a five-point agreement aimed at easing tensions along the LAC, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval will meet his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi. The virtual meeting between both the officials will take place on Thursday.
The NSAs of India and China will be face-to- face during an interaction as part of a BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Af- rica) meeting. “Though it’s a group meeting, Doval will use the opportunity to have talks with Jiechi separately to take the engagement with China forward so as to push the efforts to achieve the goal of de-escalation along the LAC,” say sources.
India wants to use every available opportunity to continue to engage China in dialogue at a high level for disengagement and de-escalation on the LAC in eastern Ladakh. Therefore, Doval using the BRICS meeting to step up pressure on China should be seen in that perspective, says an official.
The MEA is considering this meeting to be quite important as it is coming just a few days after Jaishankar’s interaction with Wang Yi in Moscow. Now, Doval will give further momentum to the diplomatic mission to pressure China into asking PLA troops to disengage along the LAC. What is also of significance is that Doval is getting this opportunity to talk to Yang just two days after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh took on China for not abiding by the agreements to maintain peace on the LAC.
“The much-needed momentum is already in the air, Doval will be giving it further fillip and asking Jiechi what the Chinese government has done so far with regard to the five-point agreements reached between Jaishankar and Wang,” says an official.
The two nuclear powers are locked in a standoff in Ladakh since May this year. Several rounds of military and diplomatic talks have taken place. After Jaishankar confronted Chinese foreign minister with the facts and evidence, Beijing agreed to work towards de-escalation. Now, what is needed is the further push to the Dragon, and this job will be done by Doval in his talk with Yang, say sources.
Meanwhile, Russia, which is a key member of BRICS, is keen to ensure that there is peace along the LAC.
Sources say Yang and Doval know each other very well since they have been talking on boundary issues for several years now. During the 2017 Doklam stand-off, it was due to the better understanding and personal chemistry between both the officials that helped resolve the issue.