India, China resume talks after 2 months

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 18

India and China held 20th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) through video-conferencing on Friday after a gap of over two months.

Both sides decided to continue to work towards ensuring complete disengagement at all friction points along the LAC at the earliest.

They also agreed to hold the ninth round of senior Army commanders’ meeting at an early date so that both sides can work towards early and complete disengagement of troops in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and fully restore peace, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

The Chinese read-out said the two sides had “candid and in-depth exchange of views” and agreed on the need to focus on the disengagement of frontline troops and take “concrete measures to deal with the issues on ground” to further de-escalate the border situation. The Chinese side also welcomed the prospects of an early meeting of senior commanders to deal with the outstanding issues.

In an indication of the stalemate that had crept in over resolving the Ladakh standoff, there was no meeting of the WMCC all through October and November, although two rounds of commanders’ meetings were held on October 12 and November 6.