India, China discuss disengagement in remaining Eastern Ladakh friction points at Beijing meet

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Beijing/New Delhi: India and China on Wednesday held diplomatic talks in Beijing and discussed ways and means for disengagement in the remaining friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh in an “open and constructive manner”. But a breakthrough still eluded the two Asian giants.

The 26th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) was held in person in Beijing on Wednesday. This was the first WMCC meeting since the 14th one was held in July 2019, to be held in person. Shilpak Ambule, Joint Secretary (East Asia) from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) led the Indian side while the Chinese delegation was led by Hong Liang, the Director General of the Boundary and Oceanic Affairs Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the meeting held under the WMCC framework, the two sides agreed to hold the 18th round of military talks at an early date to achieve disengagement in the remaining friction points in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols, the MEA said.

The Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) was established in 2012 as an institutional mechanism for consultation and coordination for the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas.

In Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a separate statement, saying the two sides reviewed the positive progress made in the early stage of China-India border control, affirmed the results of the disengagement of the two border troops in Galwan Valley and other four locations. They had an in-depth exchange of views on the approach for the next stage of consultation, it added.

“The two sides reviewed the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector of India-China border areas and discussed proposals for disengagement in the remaining areas in an open and constructive manner, which would help in the restoration of peace and tranquillity along the LAC in Western Sector and create conditions for the restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations,” the MEA statement read.

“To achieve this objective in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols, they agreed to hold the next (18th) round of the Senior Commanders meeting at an early date,” it added.

The MEA said the two sides agreed to continue discussions through military and diplomatic channels. The Chinese statement pointed out that the two sides agreed to actively implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries to further stabilise the border situation.

India and China also agreed to consolidate the achievements of the negotiations, strictly abide by the agreements reached between them and avoid repeated situations on the ground and ensure peace and tranquillity in the border areas, it said.

They agreed to meet each other halfway on the basis of the previous consensus, to speed up the resolution of issues related to the western sector of the China-India border, and to reach a solution acceptable to both sides at an early date, it added.

The 17th round of military talks was held on December 20 but there was no indication of any forward movement in the resolution of the remaining issues.

The WMCC meeting in Beijing comes barely a week before the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Delhi. Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang is expected to attend the meeting on March 1 and 2.

India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas. The eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area.

Following the face-off between soldiers of the two countries in 2020, the ties between India and China nosedived significantly marking the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

After a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process in 2021 on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area.

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