India–China Reset? Jaishankar Meets Wang Yi in Delhi as Border Talks Resume Ahead of PM Modi’s SCO Trip

India and China sought to steady their fraught relationship on Monday as External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar hosted Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in New Delhi, in a meeting that both sides pitched as an attempt to turn the page from confrontation to cautious cooperation.

At the outset, Jaishankar underscored the principle that “differences must not become disputes,” pointedly noting that peace along the border remained the foundation for any forward movement in ties. 

Image Source: FM/MEA

“This is very important because the basis for any positive momentum in our ties is the ability to jointly maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” he said, referring to the disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC), where the two militaries clashed in June 2020 in the Galwan Valley.

The minister stressed that the process of disengagement and de-escalation “must move forward,” linking stability at the frontier with broader bilateral cooperation. 

He also flagged counterterrorism as a shared priority and said India looked forward to a “stable, cooperative and forward-looking relationship” with Beijing.

Wang, who began a two-day visit to India, struck an optimistic tone, highlighting the resumption of Indian pilgrimages to Mount Kailash (Gang Renpoche) and Lake Manasarovar (Mapam Yum Tso) in Tibet as a symbol of improved goodwill. 

He pledged that Beijing would work to “dispel interference, expand cooperation, and consolidate the momentum of improving bilateral ties to contribute to each other’s development and provide certainty to Asia and the world.”

Opening remarks at my meeting with FM Wang Yi in New Delhi.
https://t.co/ZbLrgSW9tK

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) August 18, 2025

The visit comes in the lead-up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first trip to China in seven years, where he will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin on August 31–September 1. 

Modi is expected to meet President Xi Jinping on the sidelines, in what diplomats say could provide the most significant test of the two leaders’ ability to manage a fragile detente.

Border Talks and Security Architecture

Jaishankar indicated that National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, India’s special representative for boundary negotiations, will meet Wang Yi on Tuesday for the 24th round of Special Representatives talks. The dialogue, long used as a mechanism to address boundary disputes, is regarded as one of the few remaining high-level institutional frameworks still intact between the two countries.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in Beijing that the SR talks are “a crucial channel for advancing boundary negotiations” and recalled that the last round in December 2024 in Beijing had yielded “understandings on delimitation, border management, and cross-border cooperation.”

When asked about #China’s expectation regarding Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to India and the 24th Round of Talks Between the Special Representatives of China and #India on the Boundary Question, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that China is… pic.twitter.com/iSYRSMhCxq

— Xu Feihong (@China_Amb_India) August 18, 2025

For New Delhi, the stakes are high. Despite recent troop disengagements at some flashpoints along the LAC, Indian officials insist that a full return to normalcy in relations is impossible without sustained progress on the ground. 

For Beijing, however, compartmentalising border tensions while advancing trade and strategic cooperation has long been the preferred approach.

Economic Normalisation in Sight

Beyond security, the Jaishankar–Wang talks are also expected to prepare the ground for a partial economic reset. According to people familiar with the matter, India and China are close to resuming direct passenger flights between major cities as early as September -- the most tangible signal of thaw since air services were suspended in early 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before the freeze, carriers from both sides operated over a dozen weekly connections linking Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata with Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Kunming. 

Flights were halted amid the pandemic and remained suspended through the nadir of bilateral ties following the Galwan clashes.

The resumption was first broached during Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s meeting with Wang in January 2025. Since then, India has restarted tourist visas for Chinese nationals, while Beijing has permitted the long-sought Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.

Both governments appear keen to restore limited connectivity, especially as Washington has tightened trade pressure on both countries. Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods from 25% to 50% over New Delhi’s discounted oil imports from Russia, while continuing a standoff with Beijing on technology and trade. 

Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong has urged both nations to resist “bully tactics” and deepen Asian solidarity.

A Test Before Tianjin

Monday’s meeting is widely seen as part of the diplomatic choreography leading to the SCO summit in Tianjin. Modi’s visit, his first to China since 2018, could include a bilateral meeting with Xi -- the first since they agreed at the BRICS summit in Kazan last December to revive dialogue mechanisms.

Analysts caution, however, that substantive breakthroughs remain unlikely. “The atmospherics are improving, but the fundamentals remain fragile. Until there is verifiable progress on the LAC, India is unlikely to fully normalise ties,” said a former Indian diplomat.

China, by contrast, has consistently framed the border as a “manageable” issue while urging focus on economic partnership and multilateral coordination. 

In his remarks, Wang Yi highlighted China’s willingness to “expand cooperation” and pursue a multipolar Asia, aligning in rhetoric with New Delhi’s own calls for reforming global governance.

Looking Ahead

For now, the immediate agenda is pragmatic: maintaining stability along the LAC, preventing fresh flare-ups, and cautiously reopening channels of trade and travel. 

Whether this tentative thaw endures may depend less on diplomatic statements and more on the choices made in the Himalayas, where soldiers still face each other across icy ridges and valleys.

The meetings in New Delhi are unlikely to erase deep mistrust, but they may mark the beginning of a new phase that balances competition with selective cooperation.