India and China Hold Talks on LAC, Stress Importance of Border Peace

PTI, NEW DELHI, MAY 28: India and China held "constructive" and "forward-looking" talks on the situation along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, noting that maintaining border peace and tranquillity enabled progress in the normalisation of overall relations.

The two sides discussed various aspects of the border situation during a meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) in Beijing on Wednesday.

"The discussions were constructive and forward-looking," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, a day after the talks.

"The two sides reviewed the situation in the India-China border areas. They expressed satisfaction with the progress made in maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas, which has enabled progress towards gradual normalisation of bilateral relations," the MEA said.

The two sides also agreed to work together to make "substantive preparation" for the next meeting of the Special Representatives (SR), which is to be held in China.

In August last year, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a Special Representatives dialogue in New Delhi that produced a number of outcomes to maintain peace along the border.

"The two sides discussed issues pertaining to delimitation, border management, mechanism building and cross-border cooperation," the MEA said on the WMCC meeting.

It said the Indian side stressed an early meeting of the next expert-level mechanism on trans-border rivers.

"Both sides agreed to maintain regular exchanges and contacts at the diplomatic and military levels through mechanisms including those that were agreed as part of outcomes of the 24th Special Representative talks," the MEA said in a statement.

The Indian delegation was led by Sujit Ghosh, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the MEA, while the Chinese delegation was led by Hou Yanqi, Director General of the Boundary and Oceanic Affairs Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.