India, China hold 'constructive' talks on LAC; agree border peace key to normalising ties

New Delhi: India and China held "constructive" and "forward-looking" talks on the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, noting that maintaining border peace and tranquillity enabled progress in the normalisation of overall relations.

The two sides discussed various aspects of the border situation during a meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) in Beijing on Wednesday.

"The discussions were constructive and forward looking," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, a day after the talks.

India and China rolled out a series of measures in the last over one year to rebuild their relationship after it came under severe strain following the deadly Galwan Valley clashes in 2020 and the subsequent military face-off that lasted for over four years, "The two sides reviewed the situation in the India-China border areas. They expressed satisfaction with the progress made in maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas, which has enabled progress towards gradual normalization of bilateral relations," the MEA said.

The two sides also agreed to work together to make "substantive preparation" for the next meeting of the Special Representatives (SR) which is to be held in China.

In August last year, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held Special Representatives dialogue in New Delhi that produced a number of outcomes to maintain peace along the border.

"The two sides discussed issues pertaining to delimitation, border management, mechanism building and cross-border cooperation," the MEA said on the WMCC meeting.

It said the Indian side stressed an early meeting of the next expert-level mechanism on trans-border rivers.

"Both sides agreed to maintain regular exchanges and contacts at the diplomatic and military levels through mechanisms including those that were agreed as part of outcomes of 24th Special Representative talks," the MEA said in a statement.

The Indian delegation was led by Sujit Ghosh, joint secretary (East Asia) in the MEA while the Chinese delegation was led by Hou Yanqi, director general of the Boundary and Oceanic Affairs Department of the Chinese foreign ministry.

Ghosh also met Liu Jinsong, director at the Chinese foreign ministry's Department of Asian Affairs.

The joint secretary also made a courtesy call on Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hong Lei.

The WMCC meeting took place as India and China sought to reset their strained ties.

Following a series of diplomatic and military talks, the two sides withdrew their troops from several friction points along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

In October 2024, the two sides firmed up a disengagement pact for Depsang and Demchok, the last two friction points in eastern Ladakh.

Days after the agreement was finalised, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks in Kazan and took a number of decisions to improve the ties.

In August last year, PM Modi travelled to the Chinese city of Tianjin to attend the annual SCO summit. Modi and Xi held extensive talks on the sidelines of the SCO summit.

In the meeting, Modi said India is committed to taking forward its ties with China based on mutual trust, respect and sensitivity.