Doval, Wang review disengagement efforts, seek urgency in talks

NEW DELHI: India and China agreed to redouble their efforts and work with emergency to achieve complete disengagement in the remaining areas in eastern Ladakh, which India sees as essential for normalising Sino-Indian ties, in a meeting between NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on the margins of the BRICS NSAs meeting in St Petersburg.

A Chinese readout, which didn’t specifically mention disengagement, said they discussed progress in border talks and agreed stability in ties is in long-term interests of both countries. The Doval-Wang meeting was the latest in a series of high-level diplomatic engagements in the past couple of months that focused on achieving a breakthrough in the ongoing negotiations to complete the disengagement process and end the military standoff that started in May 2020.

Apart from two rounds of diplomatic talks in the past few months to address the remaining issues, external affairs minister S Jaishankar also twice met Wang in July on the margins of multilateral events to underscore the need to end the impasse and restore LAC peace and tranquillity.

``The meeting gave the two 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,’’ said the Indian government in a statement.




Doval conveyed to Wang that peace and tranquillity in borders areas and respect for LAC are essential for normalcy in bilateral relations, underlining that both sides must fully abide by relevant bilateral agreements, protocols, and understandings reached in the past by the 2 governments.

Doval had met Wang on the sidelines of the BRICS NSAs meeting in Johannesburg last year too. Like last time, they agreed that the India-China bilateral relationship is significant not just for the two countries but also for the region and the world.

Jaishankar and Wang in July had called for ``strong guidance’’ to end the standoff and, while a breakthrough has remained elusive, both sides have sounded positive about the negotiations. China said after the diplomatic talks last month that both sides had narrowed differences and agreed to reach a solution acceptable to both sides as soon as possible

Both sides have intensified engagements for disengagement in remaining areas also because they realise any breakthrough can pave the way for a bilateral meeting between PM Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at the BRICS summit in Kazan in October. The leaders will come face to face for the first time in Kazan since their” informal’’ meeting at the same summit in Johannesburg last year. Modi had used the meeting to raise concerns about the unresolved border issues, while calling for expediting the disengagement and de-escalation process. That meeting though was mired in a controversy over who first proposed it. While China said Xi spoke to Modi on the latter’s request, India denied it saying it had only responded to a pending Chinese request for a bilateral meeting between the leaders.