China and India resumed dialogue on their border dispute after a five-year hiatus, at a meeting co-chaired by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Wednesday in Beijing.
The 23rd meeting of Special Representatives on the Sino-Indian border issue resulted in a six-point consensus aimed at easing tensions between the two nations, Chinese press reported Thursday.
Under this consensus, the two countries commit to maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas while working for the healthy and stable development of their bilateral relations.
They pledged to strengthen cross-border exchanges and cooperation, including resuming Indian pilgrimages to China’s Xizang Autonomous Region, expanding cooperation on cross-border rivers and promoting border trade via the Nathu La Pass.
The next meeting of Special Representatives on the China-India border issue will be held in India next year.
These talks follow the meeting that took place last October between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan (Russia).
China and India, the two most populous countries in the world, share a mountainous border of around 3,500 kilometers which has been the scene of occasional incidents.
In 2020, a border clash resulted in the deaths of at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers.
Since then, the two countries have maintained dialogue through 21 rounds of corps commander-level meetings and 32 meetings of the working mechanism for consultation and coordination on China-India border affairs.
Last October, Vikram Misri, Indian External Affairs Secretary, claimed that an “agreement” had been reached on “the modalities of patrols along the demarcation line in the border areas between India and China, leading disengagement and, ultimately, resolution of the issues that arose in these areas in 2020.”
This announcement was confirmed a few days later by Lin Jian, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who stressed that the two countries “have reached a solution” to “issues relating to the Sino-Indian border”.
