India, China express satisfaction over peace efforts in border areas

As part of the ongoing normalisation process, India and China held the 35th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China Border Affairs in Beijing on Wednesday.

The Indian delegation was led by Sujit Ghosh, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs, while the Chinese delegation was headed by Hou Yanqi, Director General of the Boundary and Oceanic Affairs Department in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Advertisement

“The discussions were constructive and forward-looking. The two sides reviewed the situation in the India-China border areas. They expressed satisfaction with the progress made in maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas, which has enabled progress toward gradual normalisation of bilateral relations,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Thursday.

The two sides also discussed issues related to delimitation, border management, mechanism building and cross-border cooperation. The Indian side stressed the need for an early meeting of the next Expert Level Mechanism on Trans-Border Rivers.

India and China agreed to maintain regular exchanges and contacts at the diplomatic and military levels through existing mechanisms, including those agreed upon during the 24th Special Representatives (SR) Talks.

Both sides also agreed to work together to make substantive preparations for the next meeting of the Special Representatives, which will be held in China.

During the visit, the head of the Indian delegation also met Liu Jinsong, Director General of the Department of Asian Affairs in the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and paid a courtesy call on Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hong Lei.