• By Mayukh Debnath
  • Mon, 21 Oct 2024 03:27 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND

India-China Border Row: India and China have reached an agreement in context of the long-running border dispute in eastern Ladakh, said Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Monday. The official also described the progress in the dis-engagement process along the stretch of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that has been the cause of deep strains in already frosty India-China ties since 2020. 

"As a result of the discussions that have taken place over the last several weeks an agreement has been arrived at on patroling arrangements along the line of actual control in the India-China border area and this is leading to dis-engagement and eventually a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020," he told a press briefing.

By July this year, at least 21 rounds of military commander-level talks had taken place between the two sides to resolve the territorial standoff. Though de-escalation had taken place at several flashpoints by then, a complete disengagement remained out of sight. The border row saw a steep escalation in June 2020, when Indian and Chinese troops engaged in a fatal brawl in the Galwan Valley.

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In a bilateral meeting between External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kazakhstan's Astana in July, the two sides had agreed that the prolongation of the border row would not be "in the interest of either side", according to a release by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

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"EAM highlighted the need to redouble efforts to achieve complete disengagement from the remaining areas in Eastern Ladakh and restore border peace and tranquillity in order to remove obstacles towards return of normalcy in bilateral relations," the MEA had said in a statement.

(With inputs from agencies)