New Delhi, August 25: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held direct talks on the last day of the three-day BRICS summit in South Africa. To reduce the tension on LAC in East Ladakh, India and China ended their talks late Thursday night by holding major-general-level marathon talks for six consecutive days. Both sides have agreed to maintain peace and tranquilly in the border areas.
The 19th round of military talks between India and China took place on August 13–14 at Chushul-Moldo on the Indian border. Amidst the deadlock that has been going on for three and a half years, this meeting lasted for the maximum of 70 hours, during which consensus was seen on many issues. At that time, the Ministry of External Affairs had said in a statement that the two sides had positive, constructive, and in-depth discussions on the resolution of the outstanding issues along the LAC in the western sector. Both sides agreed to expeditiously resolve the outstanding issues and maintain the momentum of dialogue through military and diplomatic channels.
The statement also said that both sides have agreed to maintain peace and tranquilly on the ground in the border areas. After this, the Indian and Chinese army once again started Major General-level talks in Daulat Beg Oldi and Chushul sectors on August 19. This military meeting was kept so secret that no one could even get a clue about this marathon exercise. The frequent meetings between the two countries were revealed late on Thursday night after senior military officials of India and China concluded their six-day marathon talks to resolve the long-pending issues in the Depsang and Demchok sectors.
The major general-level talks between the two countries took place on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on border issues in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told the media in Johannesburg that Prime Minister Modi, in his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, highlighted India’s concerns on the unresolved issues along the LAC in the western sector of the India-China border. Prime Minister Modi underlined to the Chinese President that maintaining peace and tranquilly in the border areas and respecting the LAC are essential for normalising India-China relations.
The Foreign Secretary said that in this regard, the two leaders agreed to instruct their respective officials to intensify efforts for early disengagement and de-escalation. Both armies will now seek instructions from their senior leadership on the talks and will take a final decision soon. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a statement that the two leaders had a frank and in-depth discussion on current China-India relations and other issues of common interest. President Xi Jinping emphasised that the improvement of China-India relations serves the common interests of the two countries and peoples and is also conducive to peace, stability, and development in the world and the region.
The two sides should take into account the overall interests of their bilateral relations and properly handle the boundary issue so as to jointly safeguard peace and tranquilly in the border area.
