New Delhi, May 1 (FN Agency) India and China on Tuesday agreed to hold the 16th round of the Senior Commanders meeting “at an early date” to achieve the objective of complete disengagement from all friction points along the LAC. This was agreed during the 24th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) held via video link on Tuesday. The 24th WMCC meeting was co-chaired by Naveen Srivastava, Additional?Secretary of the East Asia Division of the Ministry of External Affairs and Hong Liang, Director-General of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of the Foreign Ministry via video link. Representatives from departments related to diplomacy, national defense, and immigration of both countries attended the meeting. The two sides reviewed the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector of India-China border areas. They recalled that since the last meeting of WMCC in November 2021, both sides have held the 14th and 15th meetings of the Senior Commanders in January and March 2022 respectively. The Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi had also visited India in March 2022 and held discussions with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The two sides exchanged views on the current situation along the LAC in the Western Sector in Eastern Ladakh. They agreed that as instructed by the two Foreign Ministers, both sides should continue the discussions through diplomatic and military channels to resolve the remaining issues along the LAC at the earliest so as to create conditions for restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations. In this context, they agreed to hold the next (16th) round of the Senior Commanders meeting at an early date to achieve the objective of complete disengagement from all friction points along the LAC in the Western Sector in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols, an official statement said. A Chinese readout said that the “two sides had a?candid and in-depth exchange of views on the current situation in the China-India border areas. Both sides agreed to earnestly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders and the foreign ministers of both countries, make efforts to further ease and de-escalate the border situation, and jointly maintain?the peace and stability in the border areas. Both sides agreed to maintain dialogue and communication through diplomatic and military channels, hold the 16th round of the China-India Corps Commander Level Meeting at an early date, and settle the remaining issue in the western sector of the China-India boundary in accordance with the principle of mutual and equal security.” Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, to a question on the border said in Beijing: ”At present, the border situation is stable in general. The two sides have been maintaining close communication through diplomatic and military channels.
“China always believes that the boundary question doesn’t represent the whole of China-India relations and we should put it in an appropriate position in bilateral relations and under effective control and management. We hope India will work with China to continuously enhance mutual trust, strengthen practical cooperation, and ensure that the bilateral relations will move forward along the right track, deliver more benefits to the two peoples and make greater contributions to the region and beyond.” The talks today come days after India slammed Beijing over a second bridge being constructed across Pangong Lake by China. MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in a statement on May 20 said the second bridge and the earlier one “are in areas that have continued to be under the illegal occupation of China since the 1960s. “We have never accepted such illegal occupation of our territory, nor have we accepted the unjustified Chinese claim or such construction activities. We have made it clear on several occasions that the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral part of India and we expect other countries to respect India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” He also said that India has stepped up development of border infrastructure since 2014, including construction of roads, bridges, etc. And that the “Government keeps a constant watch on all developments that have a bearing on India’s security and takes all necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”