Beijing, November 24: National security advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister and state councillor Wang Yi in Chengdu held the 21st round of special representatives’ talks in China’s Sichuan province on Saturday. Both the diplomats discussed the border issue during the talks. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the special representatives agreed to resolve the border issues to maintain peace and tranquillity in the region so that bilateral relations should not be affected due to these disputes. NSA Ajit Doval Says Strong Government Needed For Next 10 Years in National Interest, 'Weak Coalitions Will be Bad For India'

The India-China border dispute covered the 3,488-km long Line of Actual Control (LAC). China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of its southern Tibet. While announcing the talks on November 21, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said, "We have properly managed the differences through dialogue and consultation. The border areas on the whole maintained stability.”

Apart from the border dispute, Doval and Wang Yi also reviewed the progress made in bilateral ties since the Wuhan Summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in April.  Meanwhile, the 20th round of the special representatives’ talks were held in India last year in the backdrop of the 73-day standoff between the troops of the two nations at Doklam. The standoff ended after the People’s Liberation Army (PAL) stopped the construction of the road close to India’s strategic “Chicken’s Neck” corridor connecting the north-eastern states.

The Doval-Yang meeting in New Delhi in December last year also prepared the ground for the informal Wuhan Summit which resulted in not only normalisation of relations but gave a new fillip to the improvement of relations. During the 21st round of talks, both the officials also discussed various ways to improve border management by promoting exchanges and communication between border personnel. Doval and Yi further directed the bilateral working mechanism to consult and coordinate for Border Affairs for working out more details. The first round of special representative talks were held in 2003 aimed at resolving the border dispute in the best possible manner.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 24, 2018 10:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).