India, China agree on ‘regular contact’ to resolve border standoff

INDIAN AND Chinese diplomats met in Beijing and held talks on resolving the border standoff in eastern Ladakh, and both sides agreed to “maintain regular contact” through diplomatic and military channels.

The Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday that “both sides had an in-depth exchange of views on how to achieve complete disengagement and resolve the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control during the 29th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-china Border Affairs”. The meeting was held in Beijing on March 27.

“In the interim, both sides agreed to maintain regular contact through diplomatic and military channels and on the need to uphold peace on the ground in border areas in accordance with existing bilateral agreements and protocols,” MEA said.

Director-general of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, Hong Liang, and Joint Secretary of the East Asia Division of Ministry of External Affairs of India, Gourangalal Das, co-chaired the 29th meeting, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

The Chinese statement said:

“Both sides positively evaluated the progress made in the management and control of the situation in the China-india border area, and had a candid and indepth exchange of views on the ideas of work for the next stage.” The two sides “agreed to focus on the relevant issues on the ground along the border, reach a solution acceptable to both sides as soon as possible, and promote the transition of the border situation into a normalised phase of control and management”.

The last meeting of the WMCC was held on November 30 last year. Representatives from the foreign affairs, defence, immigration and other departments of the two countries attended the meeting, it said. “Both sides agreed to continue to...improve the mechanism for negotiation and consultation, and hold a new round of corps commander-level talks at an early date,” the Chinese statement said.