Doval and Wang Yi Take Himalayan Boundary Dispute to the Tea Table, Round 25

NEW DELHI, INDIA — For 25 consecutive rounds of talks, the most important diplomatic question in South Asia has not been where the border is, but whether both sides have finished their tea.

India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval arrived in Beijing this week to hold the 25th round of Special Representatives’ Talks on the boundary question with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, a meeting that carries what both governments describe as “added weight” because the BRICS summit — and a possible Modi-Xi interaction — is approaching. Before sitting down with Wang, Doval called on Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, and the two men discussed, in the words of a briefing, “ways to strengthen peace and tranquility in the border areas,” which is how governments have described mountain fights since the invention of the mountain.

The 25th round is, by diplomatic standards, a milestone more impressive than most sports careers. India Today reports the talks will take stock of bilateral ties ahead of BRICS, and both delegations arrived with the same posture they have arrived with for the previous 24 rounds: optimistic, unhurried, and fully caffeinated.

A border official who has attended several of the rounds described the format as “very stable.” The meeting opens with pleasantries, moves to a discussion of “the general spirit,” and closes with a joint statement in which both sides “expressed determination to manage the situation” — a phrase that, in diplomatic, means the situation is still there, just quieter.

The boundary dispute itself, which has produced periodic standoffs and, on both sides, a steady stream of engineers who are now experts in high-altitude concrete, is treated by both governments as a relationship rather than a problem. One analyst who has followed the rounds since round 12 compared the process to “a marriage counseling session in which neither spouse has agreed on whose side of the bed the Himalayas are on.”

At press time, both governments said the talks were “productive,” which, in the 25-round tradition, means they will definitely happen again, probably next month, probably with a larger teapot.