In August 2025, weeks before PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Beijing for the SCO summit, India hosted the 24th round of Special Representative (SR) talks with China. The meeting discussed establishing an expert group under the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs to explore an early harvest solution for border delimitation. This development comes amidst increasing high-level engagements between India and China and discussions of the potential resumption of direct flights and trade across border points. As India cautiously reopens to Beijing, its closest neighbour, Bhutan, has a new opportunity to end its border dispute with China, though this is not without its challenges.
India, China, and the Early Harvest: Understanding Bhutan’s Border Bet
