Preparing for SR dialogue, other meetings: India on next steps on border issue with China

New Delhi: Both India and China are preparing for the special representatives' dialogue and other meetings to deliberate on the next steps for the management of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), New Delhi said on Friday.

The comments by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal came a day after India and China held talks under the framework of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on border affairs in New Delhi.

In their first diplomatic talks under the WMCC dialogue mechanism since withdrawing troops from two face-off points, India and China on Thursday reflected on the lessons learnt from the eastern Ladakh border row in order to prevent such conflicts in the future.

Preparations are on for a meeting of the special representatives, Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing while replying to a question.

"We also talked about the foreign secretary-level meeting. So once these meetings take place, we will be discussing the next steps, and then you will see how things are to be taken forward," he said.

The MEA spokesperson said the Indian statement on the WMCC meeting talked about the implementation of the disengagement process.

"So that is one process which is complete. And now, it will move on to the de-escalation process, which is also mentioned in the external affairs minister's statement (in Parliament)," he said.

To a question on patrolling along the LAC, Jaiswal said the Indian side had made it clear that "wherever patrolling was to be done, whatever situation was to be restored, has been done".

The eastern Ladakh military standoff between India and China began in May 2020 and a deadly clash at the Galwan valley in June that year resulted in a severe strain in ties between the two neighbours.

The face-off effectively ended following the completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points of Demchok and Depsang under an agreement finalised on October 21.

Two days after the pact was firmed up, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks on the sidelines of the Brics Summit in the Russian city of Kazan.

At the meeting, the two sides agreed to revive several dialogue mechanisms, including the special representatives' dialogue on boundary questions.

India's special representative for the dialogue is National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval while the Chinese side is headed at the talks by Foreign Minister Wang Yi.