External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday underlined the need for "full respect" for the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and said that it is in the "mutual interest" of both India and China to "stabilise" diplomatic ties as he met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Laos.
The two leaders met in Laos's capital Vientiane to participate in the meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It was the second meeting between Jaishankar and Yi within a month.
Jaishankar and Yi also agreed on the need to give "strong guidance" to fulfil the disengagement process following the military standoff in eastern Ladakh in May 2020.
"Met with CPC Politburo member and FM Wang Yi in Vientiane today. Continued our ongoing discussions about our bilateral relationship. The state of the border will necessarily be reflected on the state of our ties. Agreed on the need to give strong guidance to complete the disengagement process. Must ensure full respect for the LAC and past agreements. It is in our mutual interest to stabilise our ties. We should approach the immediate issues with a sense of purpose and urgency,"Jaishankar tweeted.
Wang Yi hoped that the two nations would work together to "actively explore" for the two neighbours to get along with each other, and guide all communities to develop positive perceptions of each other, according to an official statement.
The Chinese Foreign Minister further stated that having the China-India relationship back on track would also be in the interest and "shared aspirations" of countries of the 'Global South'.
India has been maintaining that its relations with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border regions. The Jaishankar-Wang Yi talks came amid the dragging border row in Ladakh that entered its fifth year.
The two leaders last met on July 4 in Kazakhstan's capital of Astana on the sidelines of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
After Thursday's meeting, the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement that the talks gave both Jaishankar and Wang Yi an opportunity to review the border situation since their Astana meeting. Also, both sides will hold an early meeting of the Working Mechanism on Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) to take discussions forward, the statement added.
Both sides must fully abide by relevant bilateral agreements, protocols, and understandings reached between the two governments in the past, the Ministry said in the statement.
India and China have so far engaged in 21 rounds of Corps Commander-level talks to resolve the Ladakh standoff, which marked the most serious military conflict between the two neighbours in decades. India has been pushing for China to disengage from the Depsang and Demchok areas.
The last round of high-level military talks was held in February. Though no breakthrough was reached, both India and China agreed to maintain "peace and tranquillity" on the ground and continue communication on the way ahead.
