New Delhi, September 11: Foreign Minister S Jaishankar discussed the ongoing deadlock in Ladakh with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Thursday.
The two leaders sat face-to-face for about two hours on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting. During this time, the two leaders have agreed on 5 issues.
After the meeting, the joint statement issued by both the countries on Friday morning said that the two ministers had a frank and constructive discussion on the developments in India-China border areas as well as on India-China relations.
The two Ministers agreed that the two sides should seek guidance from a series of consensus of leaders to develop India-China relations, in which the differences were agreed not to become a dispute.
The two Foreign Ministers agreed that the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either party. So they agreed that the border troops on both sides should continue their dialogue, quickly remove the deployment to the forward posts, and reduce the tension by keeping a reasonable distance.
The two Ministers agreed that the two sides would abide by all existing agreements and protocols on the Sino-India border affairs, maintain peace and normalcy in the border areas and avoid activities that would worsen the situation.
The two sides also agreed to continue the dialogue and communication through the Special Representative Mechanism on the India-China border question.
They also agreed in this context that the Working Mechanism (WMCC) for consultation and coordination on Indo-China border matters should also continue their meetings.
The Ministers agreed that as soon as the situation recovers, both sides should rapidly implement new Confidence Building Measures to maintain and enhance peace and normalcy in the border areas.
It was believed that the main objective of this meeting of the two leaders is to continue the dialogue process continuously so that the border dispute does not take any major form.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Jaishankar also held trilateral talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
The joint statement issued in this said to promote mutual cooperation so that peace and stability can be maintained at the international level.
