China on Tuesday said there has been progress in talks with India on patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), with the foreign ministry in Beijing saying the “two sides have reached a solution on the relevant matters”.
The remarks by Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian came almost 24 hours after foreign secretary Vikram Misri announced on Monday that the two sides had reached an agreement on patrolling arrangements along the disputed border, a development seen as a key step towards resolving the standoff on the LAC that is into its fifth year.
“China and India have maintained close communication through diplomatic and military channels regarding border-related issues. Currently, the two sides have reached a solution on the relevant matters, which China views positively,” Lin was quoted as saying by state-run media.
He was responding to questions about the agreement between India and China on border patrols in disputed areas.
“In the next phase, China will work with India to effectively implement the solution plan,” Lin said.
The remarks came ahead of an expected meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the margins of the Brics Summit in the Russian city of Kazan. The two leaders, who arrived in Kazan on Tuesday, are expected to meet on October 23, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
Misri announced the agreement on patrolling arrangements at a media briefing on Modi’s visit to Russia, saying it would lead to “disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020”.
Subsequently, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said the two sides had gone back to the situation that existed on the LAC in 2020, when the standoff began.
Misri also said the two sides would take the “next steps” on the agreement, which was the outcome of several rounds of diplomatic and military talks between the two sides. It followed a string of meetings of senior leaders of the two sides in recent months – Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Kazakhstan on July 4 and on the sidelines of Asean-related meetings in Laos on July 25, while National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met Wang during a Brics-related meeting in St Petersburg on September 12.
The standoff on the LAC began with a skirmish between Indian and Chinese troops on the banks of Pangong Lake in May 2020. A brutal clash at Galwan Valley in June 2020 that killed 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops – the first fatalities on the LAC in 45 years – took bilateral ties to the lowest point since the 1962 border war. The Indian side had maintained that the overall relationship couldn’t be normalised without peace and tranquillity on the border.
Earlier talks through the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs, which involved diplomats, and senior military commanders led to withdrawal of frontline forces from the north and south banks of Pangong Lake, Gogra and Hot Spring. The two remaining “friction points” are Depsang and Demchok, considered more strategic in military terms as the Chinese side has blocked Indian access to key patrolling points.
The announcements by the Indian and Chinese sides gave no details of the agreement on patrolling arrangements or the modalities for de-escalation and de-induction of troops to their peacetime positions. Both countries have deployed some 60,000 troops, each, along the LAC.
