Doval meets Wang Yi in China, calls for countering terrorism
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met Chinese State Councillor and Foreign minister Wang Yi in Beijing and emphasized the need to counter terrorism in all its forms and manifestations to maintain overall peace and stability in the region.
This comes a month-and-a-half after the four-day military confrontation between India and Pakistan on May 7-10, which took place due to the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22.
China had condemned the terror attack, but had also been found to supplying weapons to Pakistan in its short conflict with India.
The Ministry of External Affairs said, in a statement, 'On 23 June 2025, Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser met with Wang Yi, Member, Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Beijing. NSA Doval is visiting China to attend the 20th Meeting of the SCO Security Council Secretaries.'
During the meeting, the MEA said, 'both sides reviewed recent developments in India-China bilateral relations and underscored the need to promote the overall development of the India-China bilateral relations, including by fostering greater people to people ties.'
It said that 'NSA also emphasized the need to counter terrorism in all its forms and manifestations to maintain overall peace and stability in the region.'
'Views were also exchanged on other bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest,' it said.
It said that NSA noted that he looked forward to meeting with Wang Yi in India at a mutually convenient date for the 24th round of the Special Representative (SR) Talks.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh is also likely to travel to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting. Singh is likely to travel to Qingdao from June 25 to 27.
This is their first meeting with their Chinese counterparts since India and Pakistan engaged in a military confrontation in May this year.
Both the Defence minister and NSA level meetings will also witness participation from Pakistan as well. So, while Pakistan's Defence minister Khwaja Asif is expected, Pakistan's NSA and DG ISIS, Lt Gen Asim Malik is also expected to attend.
China is the host of SCO leaders' summit in Tianjin, and these meetings are preparatory for the leaders' meeting to be hosted by President Xi Jinping. This comes in the context of repairing bilateral ties that headed south after Chinese incursions in 2020 triggered a military standoff along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh.
Doval had travelled to Beijing in December last year when India and China agreed on a set of 'six consensus' including resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, trans-border river cooperation and Nathula border trade.
This was announced by the two sides following talks in Beijing between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi who are also the Special Representatives (SRs).
That was the first meeting of the SRs since frictions emerged in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas in 2020. The two sides have monitored the implementation of the disengagement agreement of October 2024, resulting in patrolling and grazing in the border areas.
The meeting of the SRs had taken place less than two months after a border patrolling arrangement was announced on October 21 which was followed by a meeting between PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia on October 23. Now, with Rajnath Singh's first visit and NSA Doval's second visit to China since the disengagement process was completed, the focus will be on the de-escalation and de-induction of troops from both sides, sources said.
Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism '2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury's special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban's capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More
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