India on Thursday asked China to sincerely implement the understanding reached during the three meetings between the senior military officials of the two nations to resolve the two-month-long stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
New Delhi expects Beijing to “sincerely follow up and ensure expeditious restoration of peace and tranquility in the border areas as per bilateral agreements and protocols”, Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said.
He also said that Indian and Chinese diplomats as well as the military officials would continue to hold talks to end the stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the de facto boundary between the two nations – in eastern Ladakh.
Lt Gen Harinder Singh, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 14 corps of the Indian Army, had yet another marathon meeting with his counterpart Maj Gen Liu Lin of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at Chushul-Moldo point on the LAC on Tuesday.
It was the third meeting between them after transgressions by the Chinese PLA in multiple locations across the LAC in eastern Ladakh and build-ups, as well as the Indian Army’s countermeasures, escalated tension along India-China disputed boundary. They earlier had similar meetings on June 6 and June 22.
The meeting between the senior commanders of the Indian and Chinese armies on Tuesday saw both sides emphasizing “the need for expeditious, phased and step-wise de-escalation” and agreeing that it should be done as a priority, in keeping with the agreement reached between External Affairs Ministers S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during June 17 phone-call to handle the overall situation in a responsible manner, said the MEA spokesperson.
Jaishankar and Wang had also agreed that the two sides would sincerely implement the disengagement understanding of June 6. “The discussions in the latest meeting of the Senior Commanders reflected the commitment of both sides to reduce the tensions along the LAC.”
The senior diplomats of India and China will also continue engagement within the framework of the “Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on Border Affairs”, said Srivastava.
New Delhi and Beijing instituted the WMCC in 2013 to open a channel of communication between the diplomats of the two nations to avert flashpoints along the disputed boundary. The first engagement under the WMCC on the current stand-off had taken place on June 24, when the diplomats of the two nations had a video-conference.