India categorically rejected the 1959 Chinese LAC on Tuesday as “supposedly unilaterally defined”
New Delhi:
India and China on Wednesday held a new round of diplomatic talks focused on implementing the five-point deal reached between the two countries to resolve the nearly five-month border standoff in eastern Ladakh .
The virtual talks took place within the framework of the Working Mechanism of Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on Border Affairs.
The purpose of the talks was to defuse tensions, people familiar with the developments said, as the two sides discussed ways to implement the five-point agreement reached between their foreign ministers in Moscow on September 10.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a press briefing that China and India are holding the 19th WMCC meeting on Sino-Indian border affairs.
The main topics discussed are how to implement the five-point consensus reached in Moscow by the two foreign ministers to resolve the outstanding issues on the ground and relieve the situation along the border, he said. declared.
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi had held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) amid a deteriorating situation in eastern China. Ladakh triggered by a new confrontation between the armies of the two countries. .
At the meeting, the two sides reached a five-point agreement that included measures such as the rapid disengagement of troops, avoiding any action that could aggravate tensions, compliance with all agreements and protocols on the management of borders and measures to restore peace along the Line of Effective Control (LAC).
Wednesday’s talks took place amid a war of words between the two sides over perceptions of the LAC, with the de facto India-China border stretching nearly 3,500 km.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry recently insisted that China comply with the LAC as proposed by then Prime Minister Zhou Enlai to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in a letter dated November 7, 1959.
In a strong backlash, India on Tuesday categorically rejected China’s “supposedly unilaterally defined” 1959 LAC and asked the neighboring country to refrain from advancing an “untenable” interpretation of the de facto border.
The Indian government has also reminded China that its insistence that there is only one “LAC” runs counter to the solemn commitments made by Beijing in previous bilateral agreements, and hopes it will honor them. “sincerely” in their entirety.
Based on the agreement reached between Mr. Jaishankar and Wang, the two sides held nearly 14-hour talks at the corps commander level on September 21, after which they announced a series of decisions aimed at defusing the situation.
The decisions included to stop sending more troops to the front line, to refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground, and to avoid taking steps that could complicate matters further.
It was for the first time that the two armies announced specific measures to ease tensions in eastern Ladakh where the confrontation began in early May.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
