India and China have agreed to "work with urgency and redouble efforts" to achieve a complete disengagement of troops from the remaining friction points in Ladakh, according to a readout of the meeting between Indian National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday.
“The NSA conveyed that peace and tranquility in borders areas and respect for the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are essential for normalcy in bilateral relations. Both sides must fully abide by relevant bilateral agreements, protocols, and understandings reached in the past by the two Governments,” read a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), released on Thursday evening.
The meeting between Doval and Wang gave both sides an opportunity to review the recent efforts towards finding an early resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC, which will create conditions to stabilize and rebuild bilateral relations, MEA said. The duo had last met in July 2023 in Johannesburg.
Doval and Wang both agreed that the Sino-India relationship was significant not just for both the two countries, but also for the region and the world.
Both the high-level delegates also exchanged views on the global and regional situation during the meeting.
The significant meeting between Doval and Wang Yi comes against the backdrop of progress in resolving the Ladakh standoff, which has entered its fifth year.
The two countries have held 29 rounds of Corp Commander-level talks as well as several rounds of Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) meetings on the Ladakh border standoff since 2020.
Consequently, the Indian Army and People's Liberation Army (PLA) has managed to achieve disengagement of troops at the Galwan Valley, north and south banks of Pangong Tso Lake and the Gogra-Hot Springs area, according to official statements.
Efforts are still on to disengage troops from the Demchok and Depsang Plain areas in the eastern Ladakh region.
At the most recent WMCC meeting held in Beijing on 29 August, both the countries "decided to jointly uphold peace and tranquillity on the ground".
Meanwhile, Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar told the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) on Thursday that around "75% of the disengagement problems" between New Delhi and Beijing had been sorted out as of now.
“We did not have an easy relationship in the past. What happened in 2020 was in violation of multiple agreements, the Chinese moved a large number of troops to the Line of Actual Control. We, in response, moved our troops up...If there is a solution to disengagement and there is a return to peace and tranquillity, we can look at other possibilities. That is the immediate issue,” Jaishankar underscored.
Significantly, there has been a spurt in high-level contacts between India and China since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed his third term in office in June. Jaishankar has met Wang twice in recent months, with the focus of both the top diplomats being to resolve the Ladakh standoff.