New Delhi, Aug. 24 -- National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is expected to visit China on Monday for a meeting of the Special Representatives on the boundary issue, which is part of efforts by the two sides to normalise ties, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday. Doval is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart in the Special Representatives mechanism, foreign minister Wang Yi, on Tuesday, the people said, requesting anonymity. This will be the 25th round of talks under the mechanism, established in 2003 to work out a framework for resolving the 3,488-km India-China boundary dispute. Doval's visit assumes greater significance as it comes ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's expected trip to India next month to participate in the Brics Summit in New Delhi. Though both sides have not made an official announcement in this regard, Xi is expected to join the summit to be held during September 12-13, the people said. It would be Xi's first visit to India in seven years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi last met in August 2025 on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in China. The Special Representatives' talks are being held against the backdrop of a recent standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in the Arunachal Pradesh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). External affairs minister S Jaishankar reiterated at a media conclave on Saturday that the state of the border would determine the course of the overall India-China relationship. "I think we went through a particularly bad patch between the summer of 2020 and the autumn of 2024, and that was primarily an outcome of the situation in the border areas," Jaishankar said, referring to a military face-off in the Ladakh sector of the LAC that lasted more than four years and took bilateral ties to a six-decade low. After the two sides reached an understanding in October 2024 to end the Ladakh face-off, Modi and Xi met in Russia and agreed on measures to normalise ties and address the boundary dispute. The two sides have since taken steps such as reviving the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, resuming direct flights and easing visa restrictions for Chinese nationals. However, there has been no significant movement on de-escalation along the LAC....