Indian National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval will join his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi for a virtual meeting of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) group NSAs on Thursday in the context of the border standoff. .
The 10th meeting of the group’s NSAs is part of a series of events organized by Russia, the current BRICS president. This will be the fourth time this month that top Indian and Chinese leaders have been part of multilateral meetings organized by Russia, following a virtual meeting of BRICS foreign ministers and meetings of the Organization’s defense and foreign ministers. of Shanghai Cooperation (OCS). in Moscow.
People familiar with the events said on condition of anonymity that, as in the case of the BRICS foreign ministers meeting on September 4, there will be no room for bilateral discussions between the Indian and Chinese NSAs during the meeting.
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“There will be statements from the NSAs and discussions on the agenda items that have already been decided. Furthermore, the BRICS grouping has no scope to address bilateral issues, ”said one of the people cited above.
On September 17, the Russian presidency will hold the tenth meeting of BRICS national security advisers.
According to a statement issued by Russia, the BRICS NSAs meeting is expected to discuss “threats and challenges to national security.”
“The meeting agenda is comprised of challenges and threats to global, regional and national security in the world today,” the statement said. He added that the event will take place via video conference and Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the security council of the Russian Federation, will represent Moscow at the meeting.
Although both India and China have made it clear that they do not want any third-party mediation in the months-long border standoff that has brought bilateral ties to an all-time low, Russia has pressed the two sides to resolve their differences through dialogue. .
Meetings of the SCO Defense and Foreign Ministers in Moscow facilitated side meetings between Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe, and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
The two foreign ministers agreed on a five-point roadmap to address tensions on the Royal Line of Control (ALC), but there has been little progress in disengagement and de-escalation efforts on the ground, mainly because China did not pull back troops. friction points.
Tensions have been exacerbated by China’s provocative military maneuvers on the southern shore of Pangong Tso since August 29-30, and Indian troops are now preparing to remain deployed in forward positions during the harsh winter.
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