Against the backdrop of the recent standoff at Doklam, India and China on Friday reviewed the situation on their common…
(Photo: Getty Images)
Against the backdrop of the recent standoff at Doklam, India and China on Friday reviewed the situation on their common border and exchanged views on taking further confidence-building measures and strengthening military-to-military contacts between them.
At the tenth round of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs held in Beijing, the two sides agreed that maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas was an important prerequisite for sustained growth of bilateral relations.
The Indian delegation was led by Pranay Verma, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs while the Chinese team was headed by Xiao Qian, Director General in the Department of Asian Affairs in the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
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The two delegations included senior diplomatic and military officials from each side.
The talks were held in a constructive and forward-looking manner, the MEA said. The WMCC was established in 2012 as an institutional mechanism for coordination on maintenance of peace and tranquility in India-China border areas, as well as to exchange views on strengthening communication and cooperation, including between the border security personnel.
This was the first major senior-level official contact between the two countries since the over 70-day Doklam face-off that gave a major setback to the normalisation process between them. The meeting comes less than a month before Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visits India for the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral meeting on 11 December.
The two countries are also expected to hold talks at the level of their Special Representatives on the boundary issue towards the end of the next month.
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