India and China agreed to take measures to further ease the situation at the borders while continuing to implement the October agreement to resolve the standoff in eastern Ladakh comprehensively, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said a day after talks in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: PTI

India and China agreed to take measures to further ease the situation at the borders while continuing to implement the October agreement to resolve the standoff in eastern Ladakh comprehensively, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said a day after talks in New Delhi.

China and India held the 32nd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs (WMCC) on Thursday (December 5, 2024) in New Delhi, and the two sides agreed to maintain communication through diplomatic and military channels, and safeguard sustainable peace and stability in the border areas.

Both sides positively assessed the solutions reached on border-related issues and agreed to continue implementing them comprehensively and effectively, while taking measures to further ease the border situation, a press release issued by the Ministry in Beijing on Friday (December 6, 2024).

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This is the first meeting of WMCC after the October 21 agreement between the two countries to resolve the over four yearlong military standoff in eastern Ladakh that had brought the relations between the two countries to a standstill.

Following the important consensus reached by the leaders of both countries, the meeting focused on preparations for the next round of Special Representatives’ talks on the China-India border issue, it said.

The two sides also agreed to continue leveraging the role of the border negotiation mechanism, maintaining communication through diplomatic and military channels, and safeguarding sustainable peace and stability in the border areas, the release said.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in its press release on the talks on Thursday, said both sides reflected on the lessons learnt from the eastern Ladakh border row in order to prevent such face-offs in future.

Also at Thursday’s WMCC the two sides agreed to maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas in line with bilateral pacts and protocols.

The two sides also prepared for the next meeting of the Special Representatives on the boundary question.

“The two sides positively affirmed the implementation of the most recent disengagement agreement which completed the resolution of the issues that emerged in 2020,” the MEA release said.

The eastern Ladakh military standoff between India and China began in May 2020 and a deadly clash at the Galwan Valley in June that year resulted in a severe strain in ties between the two neighbours.

The face-off effectively ended following completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points of Demchok and Depsang under an agreement finalised on October 21.

Two days after the pact was firmed up, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks on the sidelines of the Brics Summit in the Russian city of Kazan.

In the meeting, the two sides agreed to revive several dialogue mechanisms including the Special Representatives dialogue on boundary questions.

India’s Special Representative for the dialogue is NSA Ajit Doval while the Chinese side is headed at the talks by Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“They also prepared for the next meeting of the Special Representatives, which is to be held in accordance with the decision of the two leaders in their meeting in Kazan on October 23,” the MEA said on the WMCC talks.

It said “both sides reviewed the situation in border areas, and reflected on the lessons learnt from the events of 2020 in order to prevent their recurrence.”

“In this context, they highlighted the importance of regular exchanges and contacts at diplomatic and military level through established mechanisms.” “They agreed on the need for effective border management and maintenance of peace and tranquillity in accordance with relevant bilateral agreements, protocols and understandings reached between the two governments,” the MEA added.

The Indian delegation at the talks was led by Gourangalal Das, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the MEA.

The Chinese team was headed by Hong Liang, Director General of the Boundary and Oceanic Affairs Department at the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Hong also called on Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar
| Photo Credit: PTI

As the eastern Ladakh military standoff entered its fifth year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India hopes for a resolution of the remaining issues with China and asserted that a return to normal bilateral ties hinges on peace and tranquillity at the border.

In an exclusive interview to PTI, he said the remaining issues mainly pertained to “patrolling rights” and “patrolling abilities”.

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Specifically asked when a resolution to the row can be expected in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks to Newsweek magazine last month, Mr. Jaishankar said he only provided a “big picture” viewpoint on the matter.

“We would hope that there is a resolution of the remaining issues out there. These issues mainly pertain to patrolling rights and patrolling abilities there,” he said.

“I would not link it to the prime minister’s interview per se. I think the prime minister was giving a big picture viewpoint and his big picture viewpoint was a very reasonable viewpoint which is – after all as neighbours, every country wants good relations with its neighbours,” he said.

“But today, our relations with China are not normal because the peace and tranquillity in the border areas has been disturbed. So he (PM) was expressing the hope that the Chinese side should realise that the present situation is not in its own interest,” Mr. Jaishankar said.

Mr. Modi had said that the border situation needs to be addressed urgently and that stable and peaceful ties between India and China are important for not just the two countries but for the entire region and world.

Mr. Jaishankar said diplomacy is a work of patience and India continues to discuss the issues with the Chinese side.

“I would say that we need to resolve those issues if the relationship is to come back to normal,” he said during the interview on Thursday.

The Indian and Chinese militaries have been locked in a standoff since May 2020 and a full resolution of the border row has not yet been achieved though the two sides have disengaged from a number of friction points.

India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the LAC were key for normalisation of overall ties.

Asked why bilateral trade volume with China is going up when New Delhi has been insisting that the ties cannot be normal when the border situation is abnormal, Jaishankar suggested that such a scenario has arisen as adequate attention to the manufacturing sector was not given before 2014.

“I think it is common sense that If there is no peace and tranquillity in the border, how can you have a normal relationship,” he said.

“After all If somebody is at your front door in an unfriendly manner, you are not going to go out there and act as though everything is normal. That to me is a straightforward proposition,” the minister added.

The ties between the two countries nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

In the diplomatic and military talks with China, the Indian negotiators have been insisting on restoring the status quo ante of April 2020 along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.