India & China to step up efforts to disengage in Eastern Ladakh

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S Jaishankar & wang Yi hold talks on sidelines of SCO Summit

By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, July 4: India and China have concurred that “the prolongation of the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side”. Both the sides have also concurred to scale up efforts at diplomatic and military levels for disengagement in the “remaining areas of eastern Ladakh.

The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday issued a detailed statement on the border situations with China. The MEA issued the statement after Union Minister for External Affairs Subhramanyam Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

The two foreign affairs ministers on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Astana in Kazakhstan. Jaishankar is representing India in the SCO Summit.

“External Affairs Minister (EAM) met Member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Political Bureau and Foreign Minister, Wang Yi on the sidelines of the SCO Meeting of the Council of Heads of State. The two Ministers had an in-depth exchange of views on finding an early resolution of the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh to stabilize and rebuild bilateral relations,” said the MEA in the statement.

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The Chinese Ministry of Affairs has not yet issued any statement on the outcome of the meeting. The Chinese embassy in India has also not put out any statement on the meeting of Wang with Jaishankar.

“The two Ministers agreed that the prolongation of the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side,” said the MEA in the statement.

Jaishankar “highlighted the need to redouble efforts to achieve complete disengagement from the remaining areas in Eastern Ladakh and restore border peace and tranquility in order to remove obstacles towards return of normalcy in bilateral relations”.

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“He reaffirmed the importance of fully abiding by relevant bilateral agreements, protocols, and understandings reached between the two Governments in the past. The Line of Actual Control must be respected and peace and tranquility in the border areas always enforced,” added the MEA in the statement.

The MEA stated that both the Ministers “agreed to continue and step up meetings of the diplomatic and military officials of the two sides to take forward their discussions to resolve the remaining issues at the earliest”.

The two sides concurred that the Working Mechanism on Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) should hold an early meeting. “EAM reiterated that India-China relationship is best served by observing the three mutuals – mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests,” added the MEA in the statement.

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