India, China engaging on diplomatic, military sides for resolution: MEA

India, while reiterating its long-standing position on China, said the two countries continue to engage on the diplomatic and military sides for some sort of a resolution.
“India’s position on China is very well known.

It is a relationship, which is not normal, but we have had dialogues both on the military side and on the diplomatic side in October and November. And the idea is that we engage so that we can have some sort of resolution,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during the weekly media briefing on Thursday.

Jaiswal said he wanted to pull out what was discussed “in these meetings that we had in October and November so that I can give you a little more details”.
He said, “The commander-level meeting was held in October where there was an agreement to maintain momentum of dialogue and negotiations through relevant military and diplomatic mechanisms.

And they also committed to maintaining peace and tranquillity on the ground at the border areas”
He stated further that India and China also had the twentieth meeting of the WMCC (Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs).

“This is at the diplomatic level. We had our joint secretary East Asia participating there.
They had a very good in-depth discussion, constructive discussion, frank discussion and they looked at all the proposals to resolve remaining issues and achieve complete disengagement in eastern Ladakh,” he added.

He said the two countries agreed on the need to maintain peace and tranquillity along the border areas, ensure a stable situation on the ground and avoid any untoward incident.
“And then thereafter, the two sides agreed to continue the dialogue through military and diplomatic channels and hold the next round of senior commanders meeting at the earliest to achieve the above objective,” he said.

The 28th meeting of the WMCC was held on Thursday.
The Joint Secretary (East Asia) from the Ministry of External Affairs led the Indian delegation and the Director-General, Boundary and Oceanic Affairs, of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs led the Chinese delegation, the MEA informed.

The two sides reviewed the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas and engaged in an open, constructive and in-depth discussion of proposals to resolve the remaining issues and achieve complete disengagement in Eastern Ladakh, the MEA stated in a press release.

They further agreed on the need to maintain peace and tranquillity along the border areas, ensure a stable situation on the ground and avoid any untoward incidents.
The two sides agreed to continue the dialogue through military and diplomatic channels and hold the next round of the Senior Commanders’ Meeting at the earliest to achieve the above objective, the MEA added.