Chinese foreign minister to visit India on August 18 for border talks amid thaw in ties

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi will visit India from August 18-20, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement on August 16, for talks about a disputed border in the Himalayas.

Wang will be holding the 24th round of talks between the Special Representatives of China and India on the boundary question at the invitation of New Delhi. This is only the second such meeting since a deadly clash in 2020 between Indian and Chinese troops at the border.

Ministry of External Affairs in a statement said, “At the invitation of NSA Ajit Doval, Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India on 18-19 August 2025. EAM Dr S Jaishankar will hold a bilateral meeting with Wang Yi. During his visit, Wang Yi will hold the 24th round of the Special Representatives’ (SR) Talks on the India-China boundary question with India’s SR, NSA Doval.”

Relations between the two countries have been thawing since an agreement last October on patrolling their border, easing a five-year standoff that had hurt trade, investment and air travel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the end of the month when he travels to China — his first visit in seven years to attend the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional security bloc.

Although talks have resumed, China has not yet restarted supplies of rare earth magnets or fertilizers. The Xi Jinping-led administration imposed export controls on medium and heavy rare earth products on April 4, citing end-use regulations and the need to “safeguard national security” owing to tariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump.

The move is anticipated to hit India’s key industrial sectors ranging from transport equipment to electronics that rely heavily on rare earth imports of which China is the dominant supplier.

On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian had said the two sides were “maintaining interactions at various levels” but added that “relevant information will be released in due course.” Lin added that China remains open to expanding trust, broadening cooperation, and managing differences with a long-term perspective, while also working more closely with India on global platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to keep relations stable.