India and China to ‘quickly disengage’ from border standoff
India and China have agreed on a five-point plan for resolving the prolonged military face-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
"The two foreign ministers agreed that the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side. They agreed, therefore, that the border troops of both sides should continue their dialogue, quickly disengage, maintain proper distance and ease tensions," reports our New Delhi correspondent quoting a joint statement issued early today by the Indian External Affairs Ministry (MEA).
The statement that contains the five-point plan, came following a two-hour meeting between Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi of China in Moscow last night during Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) ministerial meet.
The plan included abiding by all existing agreements and protocol on management of the frontier, maintaining peace and tranquillity and avoiding any action that could escalate matters.
The MEA issued the joint press statement containing five points which were agreed upon by both the sides at the "frank and constructive" discussions by the two foreign ministers on India-China relations.
This was the first face-to-face talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries since the border hostilities erupted four months ago.
It said Jaishankar and Wang agreed that both sides should take guidance from the series of consensus reached between leaders of the two countries on developing India-China relations, including not allowing differences to become disputes.
"The two ministers agreed that both sides shall abide by all the existing agreements and protocol on China-India boundary affairs, maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas and avoid any action that could escalate matters," according to the joint statement.
The joint statement said the two sides also agreed to continue to have dialogue and communication through the Special Representative(SR) mechanism on the India-China boundary question.
"They also agreed in this context that the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China border affairs (WMCC) should also continue at its meetings," it added.
The meeting between the two Foreign Ministers of India and China came a week after their defence ministers had held talks, also in Moscow.
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