India, China agree on complete disengagement of troops from eastern Ladakh

The senior diplomats of India and China had a video conference on Friday and reviewed the progress made in withdrawal of soldiers by the two sides from the face-off scenes along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

They agreed that it was necessary for both sides to sincerely implement the understandings reached between the senior commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for “disengagement” of troops along the LAC, the de facto boundary between the two nations in western sector, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated in a statement issued in New Delhi.

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The video conference was the 16th meeting the Working Mechanism for Consultation and coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC), which was instituted in 2013.

Naveen Srivastava, who heads the East Asia division at the 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.

They earlier had a video conference within the framework of the WMCC on June 24.

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The WMCC video conference on Friday saw New Delhi and Beijing reaffirming that both sides would “ensure complete disengagement of the troops along the LAC and de-escalation from India-China border areas for full restoration of peace and tranquility in the border areas in accordance with bilateral agreements and protocols. Srivastava and Hong also agreed that for the overall development of bilateral relations it was essential to maintain enduring peace and tranquility in the border areas, according to the MEA statement.

They noted that the senior military commanders of India and China would have another round of meeting to follow up on the three rounds of talks they had held on June 6, 22 and 30 last, as agreed by the Special Representatives of the two governments for boundary negotiations and strategic consultations.

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The two Special Representatives – India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and China’s Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi – had a two-hour-long phone-call last Sunday.

Srivastava and Hong on Friday agreed to maintain the ongoing communication both at the diplomatic and military level to ensure early resolution of the situation. They agreed to hold another meeting of the WMCC in the near future, said the MEA spokesperson.