Galwan Valley: India asks China to strictly respect, observe its Line of Acutal Control

China’s border troops must strictly respect and observe its Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India, New Delhi conveyed to Beijing on Wednesday, as the senior diplomats of the two nations held a video-conference to resolve the stand-off in eastern Ladakh.

India conveyed to China its concerns over the more-than-seven-week-long military stand-off along the LAC – the de facto boundary between the two nations – in eastern Ladakh, particularly the “premeditated” attack by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on the Indian Army soldiers at Galwan Valley on June 15.

New Delhi and Beijing on Wednesday activated the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on Border Affairs, which was instituted in 2013 to open a channel of communication between the diplomats of the two nations to avert flashpoints along the disputed India-China boundary.

Follow live updates on the India-China border tensions here

Naveen Srivastava, who heads the East Asia division at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), led the delegation of the Government of India in the video-conference. The delegation of the Chinese Government was led by Hong Liang, the Director General of the Department of Boundary and Oceanic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The two sides discussed in detail the developments in the India-China border areas in particular the situation in eastern Ladakh,” the MEA stated in a press release. “The Indian side conveyed its concerns on the recent developments in eastern Ladakh, including on the violent face off in Galwan Valley area on June 15 that had resulted in casualties. In this regard, it was emphasized that both sides should strictly respect and observe the Line of Actual Control.”

The Indian Army lost 20 of its soldiers in the clash with the Chinese PLA at Galwan Valley. The PLA too suffered casualties, but it did not make public the numbers of its soldiers, who were injured or killed in the incident.

New Delhi and Beijing on Wednesday sought to build on the consensus reached between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his counterpart in the Chinese Government, Wang Yi, during a conversation they had over phone on June 17 – two days after the clash at Galwan Valley.

The diplomats of the two nations “reaffirmed that both sides should sincerely implement the understanding on disengagement and de-escalation that was reached” during the meeting between the Corps Commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA on June 6. They agreed that expeditious implementation of the understanding reached during the meeting between senior military officials in accordance with the bilateral agreements and the protocols would help ensure peace and tranquility in the border areas and the development of broader relationship between the two countries. They also took note of the discussions in the second meeting of the Corps Commanders of the two armies on June 22.

New Delhi and Beijing also agreed to maintain communication both at diplomatic and military levels, including under the WMCC framework, to “resolve the existing situation peacefully”, the MEA stated after the video-conference.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Government said that its diplomats had exchanged "frank and in-depth views" with their counterparts in New Delhi on the recent border situation. It also said that two sides had agreed to strictly abide by important consensus Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping had reached during their informal summits at Wuhan and Chennai in April 2018 and November 2019 respectively.