India and China signed off 2025 on a positive note, trying to rebuild ties after over four years of fractious relations over the eastern Ladakh boundary conflict. The two countries set on a long road of normalisation after agreeing to end the border face-off in October 2024, bringing to an end years of tension since the 2020 Galwan clash. As peace prevailed at the borders, a key prerequisite for India to establish good relations with China, the two sides stepped up the dialogue process. NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the Special Representatives of India and China on the boundary question, initiated steps towards gradually improving the relations. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, during his visit to China in July, asserted that India and China should build on "good progress" in normalising the bilateral ties to address border-related issues, including de-escalation. In August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping met at Tianjin under th