Beijing: Meeting in person for the first time in over three and half years in the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing chill in bilateral ties, Indian and Chinese diplomats on Wednesday agreed to continue discussions on outstanding issues in the Ladakh area along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the western sector and to convene the next meeting of senior military commanders at an early date.
The statements released by India’s external affairs ministry and the Chinese foreign ministry did not indicate any major headway in resolving the outstanding issues that have stalled the resolution of the ongoing military standoff in the Ladakh area but that the diplomats met face to face – for the first time since July, 2019 – bestowed a sense of significance to the meeting.
Both sides talked about maintaining peace and tranquillity along the LAC and normalising the situation through further talks.
“The 26th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) was held on February 22, 2023 in person in Beijing. This was the first WMCC meeting since the 14th meeting held in July 2019, to be held in person,” the Indian statement, released by the external affairs ministry, said on Wednesday evening.
“The two sides reviewed the situation along the 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 restoration of peace and tranquillity along the LAC in Western Sector and create conditions for restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations,” the MEA statement said.
The two sides agreed to take forward the proposals through military commanders on the ground, scheduling a meeting between relevant army officers “at an early date”.
Focus on building consensus
The Chinese statement said the two sides reviewed the positive progress made in China-India border management, affirmed the results of the disengagement of border troops of the two countries in Galwan Valley and other four locations and “exchanged views frankly” during the meeting.
The Chinese statement said the two sides agreed to “actively implement the important consensus between the leaders of the two countries to promote further stabilisation of the border situation”.
The two sides also agreed to consolidate the results of the negotiations, strictly abide by the spirit of the agreements reached between the two sides, avoiding repeating situations, and ensure peace and tranquillity in the border areas.
“The two sides agreed to move forward on the basis of the consensus previously reached, accelerate the resolution of issues related to the western section of the Sino-Indian border, and reach a mutually acceptable solution at an early date; the two sides explored other measures to further ease the border situation and agreed to work to promote the border situation into a normalised control phase,” the Chinese statement added.
Both sides agreed to hold the next round of military talks at an early date.
“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. The two sides agreed to continue discussions through military and diplomatic channels,” the Indian statement added.
The Indian side was led by joint secretary (East Asia) Shilpak Ambule at the WMCC meeting while the Chinese diplomats were led by Hong Liang, director general of the department of boundary and ocean affairs in the Chinese foreign ministry.
India and China have been locked in a standoff in Ladakh sector approaching three years, since early May 2020, sending bilateral ties plummeting to their worst in decades.
Both sides have deployed thousands of troops and heavy armament along the LAC.
A deadly clash at Galwan Valley in June 2020 left 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops dead – the first fatalities along the LAC since 1975.
The last time the two sides had met under the WMCC mechanism was in October, 2022.
“The two sides spoke positively of the outcomes of previous disengagements achieved by the border troops of both countries, and fully recognised the achievements made by previous diplomatic and military communication,” the Chinese foreign ministry had then said in a statement.
The Indian delegation head Ambule also met assistant foreign minister Hua Chunying on Wednesday. Details of the meeting were not available with a brief Chinese foreign ministry statement saying they discussed Sino-India ties and the situation at the border.
Positive sign
Hu Shisheng, from the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing, said the meeting was a positive sign. It is quite abnormal for two big neighbours not to have this kind of interaction in the past more than three years. So, of course, this means a lot. It’s not only due to the fact that this year India will host several diplomatic events but also due to the fact that bilateral relations cannot afford to be aloof from each other for such a long time.”
Hu said that no interactions means there will be no possibility to accumulate common grounds and mutual understandings, which are the basic foundations to build mutual trust. “I sincerely hope, such a meeting is just the beginning of a new round of emerging interactions between these two nations. Not only the performance and function of G20 SCO, BRICS need these two giants to cooperate but also the global governance needs the two powers to cooperate to provide more public goods to the international community, which is in terrible need of such cooperation. And the whole world is expecting these two nations to provide more hope for them to get out of the economic recessions.
“More importantly, only through this kind of interaction can these two countries address their differences which are standing in the way of improving bilateral relations.”
