St Petersburg: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in St Petersburg on Thursday. Wang, who is also China's Member of the Communist Party of China's (CPC) Political Bureau and the top leader for the ongoing India-China border talks, also had a brief interaction with Doval on Wednesday.
On Thursday, both officials held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS conclave. According to the statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the meeting gave two sides the opportunity to review recent efforts towards finding early resolution of remaining issues along LAC.
Also, both sides agreed to work with urgency, and redouble efforts to realize complete disengagement in remaining areas, it added.
The Indian and Chinese troops are locked in a standoff in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks. India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas.
India-China agreed to stabilise conditions
"The meeting gave the two sides an opportunity to review the recent efforts towards finding an early resolution of the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which will create conditions to stabilize and rebuild bilateral relations," according to the statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs.
Both sides agreed to work with urgency and redouble their efforts to realize complete disengagement in the remaining areas. NSA conveyed that peace and tranquility in border areas and respect for LAC are essential for normalcy in bilateral relations.
During the meeting, both sides agreed to fully abide by relevant bilateral agreements, protocols, and understandings reached in the past by the two sides. The two sides agreed that the India-China bilateral relationship is significant not just for the two countries but also for the region and the world.
75 per cent of the "disengagement problems" with China are sorted: Jaishankar
Earlier today, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is currently in Geneva, claimed roughly 75 per cent of the "disengagement problems" with China are sorted out. On the issue of lingering border row in eastern Ladakh, Jaishankar underscored that the bigger issue has been the increasing militarization of the frontier.
In an interactive session at a think-tank in this Swiss city, Jaishankar said the Galwan Valley clashes of June 2020 affected the "entirety" of India-China ties, asserting that one cannot have violence at the border and then say the rest of the relationship is insulated from it. The external affairs minister said negotiations between the two sides to find a solution to the problem are underway.
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