Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has told his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar that the situation at the Sino-India border was “generally stable”, as the two top diplomats met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting in Goa on Thursday.
As per a Chinese Foreign Ministry readout on Friday, Qin said that both the sides should continue to abide by the “consensus” between the leaderships of the countries and abide by the relevant border protocols and agreements.
He said that both the countries should support the further cooling down of the situation in order to maintain sustainable peace and tranquillity in the border areas.
The Chinese FM said that Beijing was willing to work with New Delhi to enhance cooperation under the multilateral framework and deepen cooperation on international and regional issues to return bilateral ties to a stable track.
Qin also expressed Beijing’s support for India’s ongoing SCO presidency.
According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Jaishankar said that both the countries should continue to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas through “consultations” with each other.
Ladakh Border Dispute
Nearly 60,000 troops from India and China are embroiled in a standoff at two locations in the eastern Ladakh region — Depsang and Demchok.
New Delhi has consistently maintained that the “development of relations between India and China is premised on prevalence of peace and tranquillity at the borders”.
The meeting between the two foreign ministers comes days after the Chinese Defence Minister General Li Shangfu met his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh on the sidelines of the SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting in New Delhi last week.