Ajit Doval held high-level talks in Beijing as reports suggested Xi Jinping may visit New Delhi for the September 2026 BRICS summit.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng in Beijing on Tuesday, 25 August 2026, to discuss border stability and bilateral relations, as preparations reportedly gathered pace for President Xi Jinping’s possible visit to India for the BRICS summit in September.
The two developments point to a cautious effort by New Delhi and Beijing to stabilise relations following years of military tension along the disputed Himalayan frontier. However, Xi’s participation in the summit has not yet been formally confirmed.
Doval meets Chinese vice-president in Beijing
Doval called on Han during a two-day visit to the Chinese capital. According to an Indian Embassy statement cited by the Times of India, their discussions covered peace and tranquillity along the border and ways to strengthen economic, political and multilateral cooperation.
The meeting took place ahead of the 25th round of talks between the Special Representatives of India and China on the boundary question. Doval represents India in this mechanism, while Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi serves as Beijing’s representative.
The Special Representatives mechanism, established in 2003, is the principal political forum through which the two governments discuss the unresolved boundary question.
Their latest negotiations follow the 36th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs in New Delhi on 6 August. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, officials discussed boundary delimitation, border management, institutional mechanisms and cross-border cooperation while preparing for the Doval-Wang talks.
Xi Jinping may attend the BRICS summit
The diplomatic discussions coincide with preparations for the BRICS summit scheduled to be held in New Delhi on 12 and 13 September.
Three sources told Reuters that Xi was likely to attend the meeting with a delegation of approximately 400 officials. If confirmed, it would be his first visit to India in seven years.
Chinese officials were reportedly working on accommodation and security arrangements. Nevertheless, Xi’s travel programme and any bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not been finalised at the time of reporting.
China’s Foreign Ministry said Beijing attached considerable importance to BRICS cooperation and supported India in successfully hosting the summit, but added that it had no information to provide about Xi’s attendance. India’s Ministry of External Affairs did not comment on the report.
The distinction is important: preparations and expectations indicate that a visit is being considered, but they do not constitute formal confirmation.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng in Beijing ahead of boundary negotiations, while reports indicated that President Xi Jinping could attend the BRICS summit in New Delhi with a large delegation.
Border dispute remains the central challenge
India and China share a long, largely undemarcated frontier divided into western, middle and eastern sectors. Competing territorial claims have repeatedly strained relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Relations deteriorated sharply after the June 2020 clash in the Galwan Valley, in which 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed. The confrontation was followed by a prolonged military deployment along the Line of Actual Control.
A disengagement agreement reached in October 2024 helped resolve the remaining friction points associated with that particular military standoff. Nevertheless, disengagement does not amount to de-escalation across the entire frontier, nor does it settle the underlying boundary dispute.
The 24th round of Special Representatives’ talks, held in New Delhi in August 2025, produced a 10-point consensus. It included plans to establish expert and working groups dealing with boundary delimitation and border management and to discuss the principles and modalities of de-escalation.
The latest negotiations are therefore significant because they offer both sides an opportunity to assess progress on those commitments.
Why a Xi visit would matter
Xi’s attendance at the BRICS summit would have importance beyond the multilateral gathering itself. It would provide an opportunity for the leaders of India and China to review the gradual recovery in bilateral engagement while addressing unresolved security concerns.
Modi and Xi met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan in October 2024. That meeting helped create political space for renewed diplomatic engagement after the border crisis.
A New Delhi meeting could advance dialogue on border management, trade, visas, direct travel and multilateral cooperation. Readers can follow related developments through Hams Live’s India-China coverage.
However, an expansion of diplomatic engagement should not be interpreted as evidence that relations have returned to their pre-2020 position. India has consistently maintained that peace and tranquillity along the border are essential for the normal development of bilateral ties.
A cautious diplomatic opening
Doval’s meetings in Beijing and the reported preparations for Xi’s visit form part of the same diplomatic process, but their outcomes remain uncertain.
The immediate test will be whether the Special Representatives can produce measurable progress on de-escalation and reliable border-management arrangements. A second test will be whether Beijing formally confirms Xi’s participation and whether a bilateral meeting with Modi is scheduled.
For now, the developments suggest that both governments want to prevent border tensions from controlling the entire relationship. Whether that intention produces a durable improvement will depend on agreements reached at the negotiating table and their implementation on the ground.
