'Process of de-escalating troops at LAC needs to move forward’: Jaishankar to Wang Yi

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the ‘process of de-escalating’ the military build-up along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) needs to ‘move forward’.

“The basis for any positive momentum in our ties is the ability to jointly maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. It is also essential that the de-escalation process move forward,” Jaishankar said while making his opening remarks at the meeting here on Monday.

This is the second time in as many months that Jaishankar has mentioned the need to de-escalate troops from the LAC — the disputed border between the two countries. In July, Jaishankar conveyed to Wang, at a meeting in Beijing, how it was “incumbent upon us to address other aspects related to the border, including de-escalation”.

Meanwhile at the meeting today, Jaishankar said, “India and China have been through a difficult period in our relationship.” He added that “our two nations now seek to move ahead. This requires a candid and constructive approach on both sides”.

The two ministers also discussed economic and state issues, people-to-people, contacts, river-data sharing, border trade, connectivity and bilateral issues. Jaishankar suggested that India and China need to be guided by three mutuals — mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest.

“The differences must not become disputes nor competition,” he said.

Wang arrived in India on Monday afternoon for the 24th round of Special Representative level talks with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, scheduled for Tuesday. This is also the first visit by a Chinese minister since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, met at Kazan, Russia, in October 2024.

The issue of de-escalation of troops from along the LAC is pending since October last year, when the two sides agreed to dis-engage from two friction spots from along the LAC. India has suggested a ‘3-Ds’ step-wise approach to cool down tempers along the LAC. The first ‘D’, disengagement, was completed in October 2024. This entailed pulling back armed troops from an eyeball-to-eyeball deployment. The following two ‘Ds’ — de-escalation and de-induction — are being negotiated.