New Delhi: In a move to ease border tension, India and China held talks on border issues on May 31 and decided to hold the next (16th) round of Senior Commanders meeting at an early date.
Since Galwan clash last year, several rounds of military and diplomatic talks have taken place to resolve the standoff. Disengagement at some border points did take place but by and large, there is an impasse on complete disengagement. The 24th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) was held on May 31.
The Indian delegation was led by the Additional Secretary (East Asia) from the Ministry of External Affairs. The Director-General of the Boundary & Oceanic Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs led the Chinese delegation, said a release of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Both the sides agreed to hold the next (16th) round of the Senior Commanders meeting at an early date to achieve the objective of complete disengagement from all friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols, added the MEA release.
The two sides reviewed the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas. They recalled that since the last meeting of WMCC in November 2021, both sides have held the 14th and 15th meetings of the Senior Commanders in January and March 2022 respectively.
The Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi had also visited India in March 2022 and held discussions with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. The two sides exchanged views on the current situation along the LAC in the Western Sector in Eastern Ladakh.
As instructed by the two Foreign Ministers at WMCC on India-China Border Affairs, both sides should continue the discussions through diplomatic and military channels to resolve the remaining issues along the LAC at the earliest so as to create conditions for the restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations.
