India and China deepen the LAC thaw while New Delhi protests Chinese roads in Shaksgam
Doval and Wang Yi note 'gradual normalisation' and an 'early harvest' sectoral track even as the MEA calls CPEC infrastructure in the China-held Shaksgam Valley 'illegal and invalid'
Summary
On 22 June 2026 NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi met on the sidelines of the BRICS national-security-advisers conference in New Delhi and noted "gradual normalisation" of India–China ties — the latest step in a thaw running since the October 2024 eastern-Ladakh patrolling deal and the Modi–Xi Jinping Kazan meeting. The track now includes a "sectoral approach" and an expert-group "early harvest" on boundary delimitation, plus revived flights, visas, border trade and eased investment curbs. Running against it: New Delhi's standing protest, repeated since January 2026, that Chinese road-building in the China-held Shaksgam Valley and the extension of Pakistan's CPEC across it are "illegal and invalid." Beijing's MOFA calls the 1963 boundary pact a sovereign right and the construction work as being on "its own territory." The two contradictions — détente and a hardening western-sector claim — now coexist.
The split
China's state outlets (MOFA, Xinhua) cast the thaw as a leaders-led "partners not rivals" consensus India should not let border friction spoil, and treat Shaksgam as settled Chinese territory. The Wire reads "early harvest" as a quiet Indian concession that favours Beijing's sequencing; The Print foregrounds the Shaksgam road near Siachen. SCMP and East Asia Forum call it tactical hedging under Trump's tariffs, not a reset. TASS frames RIC alignment; Dawn defends CPEC as a sovereign China–Pakistan right.
By the numbers
- 22 June 2026 — Doval–Wang Yi BRICS-NSA meeting; "gradual normalisation" noted.
- Oct 2024 — eastern-Ladakh patrolling deal; Modi–Xi met days later at Kazan.
- 1963 — China–Pakistan boundary pact ceding the Shaksgam/Karakoram tract; India never recognised it.
- ~50 km — distance the new all-weather Shaksgam road ends from Siachen's northernmost point (per satellite imagery).
- ~50 — largely dormant bilateral dialogue mechanisms the two sides are trying to revive.
- 9 Jan 2026 — MEA's first "illegal and invalid" rejection of CPEC in Shaksgam.
Why it matters
The thaw reopens a $700-billion-plus contracting market and rare-earth supply to India while letting Narendra Modi hedge against US tariffs — but the western sector, where Shaksgam and CPEC sit, is exactly the ground an "early-harvest" deal would defer, not settle. Détente and an unyielding territorial claim are being managed in parallel, leaving Pakistan the wedge.
What to watch
- The next Special Representatives round (in China) and whether "early harvest" names specific sectors.
- Further satellite-tracked construction in Shaksgam and any fresh MEA démarche.
- Whether the Brahmaputra mega-dam or Arunachal naming rows reopen, testing the thaw.
- Any formal CPEC-extension MoU across PoK/Shaksgam and India's response.