China’s foreign minister to visit India amid improving ties

ISTANBUL

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi is scheduled to visit neighboring India to hold talks on the “Boundary Question,” according to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

Wang and India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval would hold the 24th round of talks between the special representatives of China and India on the Boundary Question at the “invitation of the Indian side, Xinhua reported, citing a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

Wang and Doval are special representatives on border issues between the two Himalayan neighbors.

The last meeting between Wang and Doval was held in Beijing this June.

Confirming that Wang will pay a visit to India on Aug. 18-19, the Indian External Affairs Ministry statement said that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will host his Chinese counterpart.

The visit came amid a warming of ties, which were strained by border clashes in 2020.

A Bloomberg report earlier this week said that China and India planned to resume direct passenger flights as early as next month, which were suspended in early 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian had said that Beijing " has been in close communication with India to promote the early resumption of direct flights" for some time.

Wang last visited India in 2022.

Earlier, media outlets reported that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit China to attend the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit later this month.

Although no confirmation from either side was given, the Chinese Foreign Ministry later said that Modi is “welcome” to visit.

New Delhi and Beijing have cautiously worked to stabilize relations after a deadly border clash in 2020 killed 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir.

Last month, India resumed issuing tourist visas to Chinese nationals for the first time since 2020.