New Delhi, November 18
India and China on Thursday “agreed” to hold the next round of the Senior Military Commanders meeting at an early date and to achieve the objective of complete disengagement from all the friction points along the LAC in the Western Sector in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement.
The 23rd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC), which was held virtually, also agreed that in the interim, both sides would also continue to ensure a stable ground situation and avoid any untoward incident.
The last military commanders meeting on October 10 had ended in a stalemate with both Foreign Offices accusing each other of insincerity. The MEA had then said while the Indian side made constructive suggestions, the Chinese side was not agreeable and also could not provide any forward-looking proposals.
The Indian delegation was led by MEA’s Additional Secretary (East Asia) and the DG of Chinese MFA’s Boundary & Oceanic Department of the Chinese led the other side.
The two sides recalled the agreement between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting in September in Dushanbe that military and diplomatic officials should continue their discussions to resolve the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh.
Accordingly, they had “candid and in-depth” discussions on the situation along the LAC in Western Sector of India-China border areas and also reviewed the developments since the last meeting of the Senior Commanders of both sides which was held on October 10.
In this regard, they agreed on the need to find an early resolution to the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols so as to restore peace and tranquility, said the MEA readout.
