New Delhi: Over a month after a contentious round of talks between the two militaries, the foreign ministry officials of India and China returned to a more conciliatory tone in their latest meeting to find a resolution to the 19-month-long border stand-off.
The foreign office led Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China border affairs met virtually on Thursday. The Indian side was led by Ministry of External Affairs additional secretary (East Asia) Naveen Srivastava, while the Chinese delegation was chaired by the director-feneral of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of the foreign ministry, Hong Liang.
According to the separate press releases issued by the two foreign ministries, the officials held “candid and in-depth” discussions on the border stand-off, which began in May 2020.
Last month, the 13th meeting of senior military commanders collapsed, with both sides issuing unusually strident statements that publicly blamed the other for failing to reach any consensus. Two weeks later, India had also expressed concern over China’s new land border law.
The language in the latest press readouts from the Indian and Chinese foreign ministries was much more equanimous, with a return of familiar phrases and talking points.
The Ministry of External Affairs stated that the two sides agreed “on the need to find an early resolution to the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols so as to restore peace and tranquility”.
“The two sides also agreed that both sides should in the interim also continue to ensure a stable ground situation and avoid any untoward incident,” it added.
In a similar strain, the Chinese press release said the two countries “agreed to consolidate the existing outcomes of the disengagement, strictly abide by the agreements and protocols and the consensus reached between the two sides, prevent the situation on the ground from relapsing”.
The current stand-off has already taken the lives of 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops – the first casualties at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in over four decades.
The Chinese foreign ministry also noted that the two sides agreed on making “continuous efforts” to “de-escalate” the border situation and attempt to “shift from urgent dispute settlement to regular management and control at an early date”.
Both press releases mentioned holding the next round of senior commanders’ meeting, but only the Indian readout claimed that both agreed to organise it at “an early date”.
Further, the Indian side noted that the “objective” of the 14th round of the senior commanders meeting would be to “complete disengagement from all the friction points along the LAC in the Western Sector in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols”.
The reference to “complete disengagement” had also been part of India’s readout for the last meeting of WMCC in June this year.
China, however, framed the forthcoming meeting differently. “Both sides agreed to maintain dialogue and communication through diplomatic and military channels, actively prepare for the 14th round of Senior Commanders Meeting, and make efforts to settle the remaining issues in the western sector of the China-India border,” said the Chinese foreign ministry.