Doval, Yang meet amid Sikkim standoff

Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi met here today on the sidelines of a BRICS meeting, amid an ongoing military standoff between the two nations in the Sikkim area.
Yang also separately met his counterparts from South Africa and Brazil, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.
The report said bilateral relations, international and regional issues, multilateral affairs and "major problems" were discussed during the meetings.
It did not say whether the Sikkim standoff was raised during the Doval-Yang meeting.
Indian officials here too have have not elaborated on the issues discussed between Dovan and Yang, who are special representatives of their countries for the boundary talks.

Doval arrived in China yesterday for the two-day Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) NSAs meeting hosted by Yang.

A joint meeting of the NSAs will take place tomorrow. The media will be allowed to cover that meeting.
Doval and other heads of the delegations will also call on Chinese President Xi Jinping tomorrow evening.
Doval's visit has raised expectations about the likelihood of a solution to the more-than-a-month-long military standoff in Dokalam area near the Bhutan trijunction.
The standoff began after Indian troops stopped the Chinese army from building a road in the area.
China claimed it was constructing the road within its territory. India protested the construction, fearing it would allow China to cut India's access to its northeastern states.

Last week, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told Parliament that both sides should first pull back their troops for any talks to take place, favouring a peaceful resolution of the border standoff.
Swaraj also said that the "unilateral" Chinese action to change the status quo near the Bhutan trijunction poses a challenge to India's security.
China has maintained that there won't be a meaningful dialogue without the unconditional withdrawal of Indian troops from the area. But both sides have acknowledged that talks were held through diplomatic channels to ease the tension.
China's foreign ministry on Monday had said the BRICS' NSAs meeting on security issues is a major platform for the countries for cooperation in politics and security fields.