India and China had a “frank, constructive and forward-looking exchange of views” on the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to “narrow down the differences” and find an “early resolution” of the outstanding issues, at the 31st meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) in Beijing on Thursday (August 29, 2024), according to a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
The meeting comes within a month of the 30th WMCC meeting held on July 31, though the Corps Commander-level military talks were not held in between the two meetings.
“In line with the guidance provided by two Foreign Ministers’ meetings in Astana and Vientiane in July 2024 to accelerate their discussion, and building on the WMCC meeting held last month, the two sides had a frank, constructive and forward-looking exchange of views on the situation along the LAC to narrow down the differences and find early resolution of the outstanding issues. For this, they further agreed for intensified contact through diplomatic and military channels,” the statement said.
Respect for the LAC
The Indian delegation was led by Gourangalal Das, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the MEA, while the Chinese delegation was led by Hong Liang, Director General of the Boundary & Ocean Affairs Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The two sides decided to “jointly uphold” peace and tranquillity on the ground in border areas in accordance with relevant bilateral agreements, protocols and understandings reached between the two governments. “It was reiterated that restoration of peace and tranquility, and respect for the LAC are the essential basis for restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations,” the MEA said.
Diplomatic efforts
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi have met twice in the last two months, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kazakhstan in July, and again last week at Vientiane in Laos. They highlighted the need to resolve the four-year-old military standoff at the LAC with “purpose and urgency”.
The two countries have been holding the Corps Commander-level and WMCC talks, at the military and diplomatic levels, as part of efforts to resolve the standoff along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. The 21st round of Corps Commander talks were held in February, though the two sides did not reach a breakthrough towards disengagement in the two remaining friction areas.
