New Delhi, Aug. 19 -- Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi is in India to hold a special representative dialogue with India's national security advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval. Wang and Doval are the designated special representatives for the boundary talks. The visit is significant as it comes ahead of the much-anticipated Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to China, and is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The visit is part of the special representative-level dialogue that the two countries agreed to resume, but may be read as part of a long-term strategy to reset bilateral relations between India and China. So the key questions: Why is the timing of Wang Yi's visit significa...