Senior officials from India and China have agreed that the next round of the meeting of senior commanders should be held at an early date so that both sides can work towards early and complete disengagement of the troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in accordance with the existing bilateral agreement and protocols.

At the meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) on Wednesday, both sides also acknowledged the need to implement the steps outlined in the joint press release issued after the last meeting (on September 21) of the senior commanders, so as to avoid misunderstandings and to maintain stability on the ground, according to an official release of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

“In this context, the need to strengthen communication, especially between the ground commanders, was emphasised by both sides,” the release said.

The decision at the WMCC meeting is important as some recent comments made by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, stating that Beijing abided by the LAC in the India-China border area proposed by it in 1959, had led to more unpleasantness between the two sides. India had responded by saying that it never accepted the unilaterally defined demarcation of 1959 and China was well aware of that.

On Wednesday, the two sides also reviewed the current situation along the LAC and had detailed discussions on the developments since the last meeting of the WMCC on 20 August, 2020. “The two sides attached importance to the meetings between the two Defence Ministers and the two Foreign Ministers held earlier this month. They also noted that the agreement between the two Foreign Ministers should be sincerely implemented to ensure disengagement at all the friction points along the LAC,” the release said.

The Indian delegation was led by Joint Secretary (East Asia) from the MEA while the Chinese delegation was led by the Director General of the Boundary & Oceanic Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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