India and China have agreed to begin delimiting less contentious stretches of their boundary to pave the way for permanent demarcation of the border, reopen border trade through Lipulekh Pass, Shipki La and Nathu La, and resume direct flights.

At the 24th round of special representative-level talks in New Delhi, national security adviser Ajit Doval said India-China border has been “quiet” and there has been an “upward trend” in bilateral ties at the 24th round of special representative-level talks between the two countries.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi is in New Delhi for the 24th round of border talks with Doval and held a meeting with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, days before Modi travels to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.

PM Modi said that India-China relations have made “steady progress” and stressed that stable and constructive ties between the two neighbours would contribute to regional and global peace.

Wang said, “The stable and healthy development of China-India relations is in the fundamental interests of the two countries' people,” according to a statement by the Chinese foreign ministry.

Both sides agreed to the reopening of border trade through the three designated trading points — Lipulekh Pass, Shipki La and Nathu La. The two countries hoped to resume direct flights at the earliest.

Sources said during the talks, both sides were expected to deliberate on new confidence-building measures besides reviewing the overall situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The ministry of external affairs also said the talks with China covered de-escalation, delimitation and broader boundary issues, and stressed that India underlined the need for utmost transparency regarding the dam project.

Wang’s two-day visit is seen as a step in repairing ties strained since the 2020 border clash, with both governments signalling willingness to pursue dialogue and cooperation in key sectors.

The military standoff in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020 and the clashes at the Galwan Valley in June that year resulted in a severe strain in bilateral ties.

The face-off effectively ended following completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points of Demchok and Depsang under an agreement finalised on October 21 last year.

In the last few months, the two sides also initiated a number of initiatives to rebuild the ties that included resumption of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and New Delhi restarting issuance of tourist visas to Chinese nationals.

With Modi and Xi scheduled to meet again at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin on August 31, observers say the stage is being set for a cautious but pragmatic reset in bilateral ties.

Chinese state media has been all but gloating about the strains between the United States and India. The Global Times, a Communist Party tabloid, said Modi’s upcoming visit to China was a sign of Washington’s failure to draw New Delhi into its strategy to “contain” Beijing.

Relations between Washington and New Delhi are on the fritz after the Trump administration threatened this month to double tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent, citing India’s imports of Russian oil.