Disengagement of troops in four areas in Eastern Ladakh, says China

Beijing: Highlighting that troops have disengaged at four places in Eastern Ladakh, including Galwan Valley, the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Friday said India and China have agreed during their meeting in Russia to work together to create conditions for the improvement of bilateral relations.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks on the sidelines of a meeting of the BRICS high-ranking officials responsible for security matters in St Petersburg in Russia on Thursday where they discussed the progress made in the recent consultations on border issues, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

Asked whether the two countries were close to a breakthrough to revive the bilateral ties frozen for over four years due to the military standoff in Eastern Ladakh, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a media briefing on Friday that the two militaries realised disengagement in four areas and the situation along the border is stable.

“In recent years, front-line armies of the two countries have realised disengagement in four areas in the Western sector of the China-India border, including the Galwan Valley. The China-India border situation is generally stable and under control,” Mao said.

Her comments come a day after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in Geneva that roughly 75 per cent of the “disengagement problems” with China are sorted out but the bigger issue has been the increasing militarisation of the frontier.

Doval and Wang are the Special Representatives for the India-China border talks mechanism.

Elaborating further about the Doval-Wang meeting, the Chinese Foreign Ministry release said both parties expressed the belief that the stability of the China-India relations is in the fundamental and long-term interests of the two peoples and conducive to regional peace and development.

China and India agreed to implement the consensus reached by the heads of the two countries, enhance mutual understanding and trust, maintain continuous communication, and create conditions for boosting bilateral ties, it said.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, stressed that facing a turbulent world, China and India as two ancient eastern civilisations and emerging developing countries should adhere to independence, choose unity and cooperation, and avoid consuming each other, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Wang expressed the hope that the two sides will properly handle their differences in a pragmatic approach and find the right way to get along with each other and push the China-India relations back on track for healthy, stable, and sustainable development.

During their Thursday meeting, both Wang and Doval discussed progress made in recent consultation on border issues and agreed to deliver on the common understandings reached by leaders of the two countries, enhance mutual understanding and trust, create conditions for improving bilateral ties and maintain communication to this end, she said.

A press release on the talks issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said India and China on Thursday agreed to work with “urgency” and “redouble” their efforts to achieve complete disengagement in the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh.

In the meeting, Doval conveyed to Wang that peace and tranquillity in border areas and respect for the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are essential for the return of normalcy in bilateral ties, the MEA press release said.

The Doval-Wang meeting came two weeks after India and China held diplomatic talks during which they agreed to intensify contacts through diplomatic and military channels to find a resolution to the outstanding issues.

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.

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.

India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas.

The two sides have so far held 21 rounds of Corps Commander-level talks to resolve the standoff.