Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval held the 19th round of Border Talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, Chinese State Councilor in China.
After the talks, both sides agreed to adhere to peaceful negotiations to settle boundary questions and to make efforts to reach a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution.
For the first time, India is putting more much effort to solve the border issue with China. Earlier the Indian establishment was banking on the strategy that the border problems would be solved over time, improving along with economic and political relations with China, according to sources in the Defense Ministry.
Hence, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval's recent visit to China was very important in the sense that it marked a paradigm shift in India's strategy towards China.
In fact, India wants to speed up the process of the "Special Representative Talks" to reach an amicable solution to the border problem. The last 18 rounds of talks between the Special Representatives of both countries have not been particularly fruitful hence, India wants the border talks to become more focused and move in the direction of finding a solution to the boundary problem.
However, security experts do not sound very optimistic with China's approach and asserted that China is still sticking to its old strategy despite India's proactive approach.
"The first thing is that China has said that it has no border with India in Jammu and Kashmir. This means they still treat the area of Aksai Chin as disputed territory. There is no change in Chinese policy, they don't want to disturb the peace and tranquility of the border but simultaneously they will keep showing their assertiveness along the border," Major Gen (Rtd) Afsir Karim told Sputnik.
