At 30th round of talks on border dispute, China and India agree to speed up negotiations
China and India have agreed to speed up negotiations over their border disputes and maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas as stand-offs along part of their Himalayan frontier enter their fourth year.
During the 30th round of border talks held in New Delhi on Wednesday, the two sides also agreed to "focus on specific issues related to the China-India border, accommodate each other's legitimate concerns and reach a mutually acceptable solution" soon, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement shortly after midnight on Thursday.
Meanwhile, they agreed to "maintain communication through diplomatic and military channels, strengthen the construction of negotiation mechanisms, accelerate the negotiation process, turn the page on the border situation at an early date, and promote the healthy and stable development of China-India relations," it said.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
In a separate statement, India's external affairs ministry said the two sides had reviewed the current situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) "with a view to finding an early solution of the outstanding issues".
"Restoration of peace and tranquillity and respect for the LAC are an essential basis for restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations," it said, adding that the meeting on Wednesday was "in-depth, constructive and forward-looking".
Beijing has long said that the border disputes should not dominate or define the entire bilateral relationship, while India has said the border issue is the basis of restoring ties.
The latest round of border talks was co-chaired by Hong Liang, director general of the foreign ministry's Boundary and Oceanic Department, and Gourangalal Das, joint secretary from the external affairs ministry. Representatives from the departments of foreign affairs, national defence and immigration from both sides also joined the meeting.
The talks were held as ties between the Asian neighbours hit their lowest point in decades after Chinese and Indian troops engaged in a brawl in 2020 that left 20 Indian soldiers dead and an unspecified number of Chinese casualties.
Since then, diplomats and military officials from both sides have held several rounds of border talks.
In an effort to de-escalate tensions along the border, the two militaries have disengaged at four points on the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso, Gogra and the Galwan Valley, although the stand-off has continued in the western part of their disputed borders, with an increased military deployment on both sides of the frontier.
In a sign that Beijing and New Delhi may accelerate their efforts to resolve the prolonged disputes, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar last month met in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, with pledges to make "concerted efforts" to keep the peace along their disputed border and improve communication.
After meeting counterparts from the US, Japan and Australia in Tokyo on Monday, Jaishankar admitted that the relationship with Beijing was not good, but he ruled out the possibility of involving a third party in their border disputes.
China and India have never agreed on their border demarcation. Since a short but bloody war over the issue in 1962, they have been divided by the 3,200km (1,990-mile) LAC - although they have not even been able to agree on precisely where that lies. In 2012, the two sides launched the working mechanism for consultation and coordination on border affairs to ease border tensions.
Following the stand-offs, India has tightened scrutiny over investments from Chinese companies, raising worries that disputes at the borders could derail cooperation in other areas.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday, Indian trade minister Piyush Goyal dismissed a report that his country may ease restrictions on Chinese investment in non-sensitive sectors.
"There is no rethinking at present to support Chinese investments in the country," he said.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.