Ladakh standoff: India reiterates early resolution with China
Both sides had held very senior-level military talks on June 6 to resolve the military face-off in the Ladakh sector.
New Delhi: Amid hectic ongoing negotiations with Beijing at senior military and diplomatic levels, New Delhi on Thursday reiterated that India and China have agreed on “early resolution” of the situation on the borders and that the two sides are “maintaining their military and diplomatic engagements to peacefully resolve the situation at the earliest” to ensure peace and tranquility in the border areas.
New Delhi’s views are essentially a reiteration of those expressed on Sunday, a day after both sides had held very senior-level military talks on June 6 to resolve the military face-off in the Ladakh sector.
In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, “As you are aware, a meeting was held between the Corps Commanders of India and China on 6th June 2020 in the Chushul-Moldo region. This meeting was in continuation of the diplomatic and military engagements which both sides have maintained to address the situation in areas along the India-China border. It was agreed that an early resolution of the situation would be in keeping with the guidance of the leaders.”
The MEA added, “The two sides are, therefore, maintaining their military and diplomatic engagements to peacefully resolve the situation at the earliest as also to ensure peace and tranquility in the border areas. This is essential for the further development of Indian-China bilateral relations.”
This comes a day after the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said the two nations are taking steps to “to ease the situation along the borders”.
On Monday, Beijing had seemingly softened its position on the military face-off, saying that China and India have the “capacity and willingness to properly” resolve border issues through “negotiation and consultations”.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry had also said the two nations, in their military-level talks last week, “agreed to implement important consensus reached by leaders, not to turn differences into disputes, work together to maintain peace and tranquility in border areas, so as to create a favorable atmosphere for stable development of bilateral relations”.