New Delhi: India and China’s special representatives on Wednesday (December 18) agreed to move ahead on normalising ties by resuming pilgrimages, border trade and data-sharing for rivers, while referring to the need to maintain peace and stability along the border, though with their characteristic differences in emphasis.
National security adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, the special representatives from either side that led Wednesday’s discussions in Beijing, also positively viewed the progress made since the two sides struck a deal in October to disengage their troops at two remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)’s statement said.
China’s foreign ministry said in its readout that the talks were “in-depth and constructive” and that both sides “agreed to proceed incrementally, addressing easier issues first, and to develop a roadmap for future work”.
The mechanism of special representatives was created during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to China in June 2003 to “explore from the political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship the framework of a boundary settlement”.
Wednesday’s meeting marked the first special representative-level talks between India and China since December 2019, a few months after which clashes between troops on either side precipitated a freeze in bilateral ties.
But in October this year, India announced it had reached a “patrolling agreement” with China regarding two areas in eastern Ladakh where troops still stood eyeball-to-eyeball, following which it was decided at a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping to resume special representative-level talks.
Indicating that ties are being progressively normalised, the Indian statement noted that they “provided positive directions for cross-border cooperation and exchanges including resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, data sharing on trans-border rivers and border trade”.
“They agreed on the salience of stable, predictable and amicable India-China relations for regional and global peace and prosperity,” it added.
While the Chinese foreign ministry was silent on these issues, the Chinese ambassador later posted on X that “both sides agreed to continue enhancing cross-border communication and cooperation, promoting the resumption of pilgrimages by Indian pilgrims to Xizang, cooperation on cross-border rivers, and trade at the Nathu La Pass”.
The 23rd meeting of Special Representatives for China-India Boundary Question reaches six points of consensus:
1.Both sides positively evaluated the resolution reached on border-related issues and reaffirmed the need to continue implementing the agreement. They agreed that border… pic.twitter.com/KutJXFxIlh— Xu Feihong (@China_Amb_India) December 18, 2024
Advertisement
In its readout issued on Wednesday, the MEA also pointed out that both sides reiterated the fundamental importance of the special representative mechanism of providing a “political perspective” and “resolved to inject more vitality into this process”.
It also said that both the Indian and Chinese interlocutors underlined the “importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas to promote overall development of the India-China bilateral relationship”.
China also said that “both emphasised the importance of leveraging the special representatives’ mechanism to strengthen regular management of the border situation and jointly maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas”.
The Indian readout explicitly referred to the military stand-off two times, while referring to the patrolling understanding as the “disengagement agreement”, as per practice. The Chinese statement has no mention about the stand-off and only refers to it by using the term “border-related issues”.
The MEA also said that both sides underscored “the need to ensure peaceful conditions on the ground so that issues on the border do not hold back the normal development of bilateral relations”.
“Drawing on the learnings from the events of 2020, they discussed various measures to maintain peace and tranquillity on the border and advance effective border management,” it added.
Beijing, for its part, cited Wang as saying that both sides must “put the border issue in an appropriate position in bilateral relations”.
The Chinese ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, posted “six points of consensus” on his verified X account, the first of which stated that the two countries had apparently agreed “border issues should be handled appropriately in the context of the overall bilateral relationship to ensure they do not affect the development of bilateral ties”.
While Xu’s post stated that both sides “agreed to further refine the management rules for the border areas”, the Chinese foreign ministry’s statement said that they reiterated to proceed “proceed incrementally, addressing easier issues first, and to develop a roadmap for future work” on the boundary issue.
Among the “most valuable experiences” Wang said either side gained in their 70-plus-year relationship marked by “ups and downs” were to “adhere to the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries on bilateral relations, persist in establishing a correct understanding of each other, adhere to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and persist in properly handling differences through dialogue and consultation”.
In 2019, statements from both India and China for the 22nd special representative talks emphasised the importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity along the border.
China claimed both sides agreed to “formulate management rules for maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” while India stated they agreed to ensure border peace for the “overall development of the bilateral relationship.”
Four months later, Chinese troops had increased their presence on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and started to conduct patrols that were not in line with traditional patterns, even as they stopped Indian soldiers from going to their usual routes in the area.
There were inevitable clashes, which culminated in the Galwan Valley clash of June 2020 that resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers — the first LAC fatalities in 45 years.
Between February 2021 and September 2022, Indian and Chinese troops disengaged at Pangong Lake (North and South Banks), Gogra, and Hot Springs.
On October 21 this year, India announced a “patrolling agreement” for Depsang and Demchok, the two remaining friction points. Two days later, Modi and Xi held formal talks during the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia – their first in five years.
Since then, the foreign and defence ministers have held separate discussions. On December 5, the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India–China Border Affairs, also known as the WMCC, met in Delhi, confirming disengagement efforts and paving the way for Wednesday’s talks.
