India and China hold talks to end border dispute

Ties between the two countries worsened in 2020 after a clash killed soldiers on both sides

Officials from India and China held “constructive” and “forward-looking” conversations on Wednesday to resolve a border feud, New Delhi has said.

The meeting, the 30th of its kind, took place days after Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi held discussions during multi-nation events in Astana, Kazakhstan, and Vientiane, Laos, to iron out differences at the border.

The 3,379 km (2,100 mile) frontier between the world’s two most populous countries has long been a source of friction.

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India and China agreed on the need to “jointly uphold peace and tranquility on the ground in the border areas in accordance with relevant bilateral agreements, protocols and understandings,” New Delhi’s readout said, adding that “respect for the LAC” is an essential basis for the “restoration of normalcy” in bilateral ties.

The discussion was “in-depth, constructive and forward-looking,” the Indian statement said.

Beijing said the sides agreed to implement the “important common understandings” reached at recent meetings between the two foreign ministers, “accommodate each other's legitimate concerns,” and reach a “mutually acceptable solution.”

In 2020, ties nosedived after a skirmish near a disputed stretch of the border in the Galwan Valley resulted in the deaths of soldiers on both sides. Despite the withdrawal of forces and several rounds of talks, friction remains. Tensions have resurfaced this year over Chinese claims to the Arunachal Pradesh region of India, which it calls ‘Zangnan’.

During a recent meeting between the Quad grouping (comprising Australia, India, Japan, and the US) in Tokyo, Jaishankar acknowledged that India’s relations with China “are not doing very well.” However, he insisted that New Delhi was “not looking to other countries to sort out” the situation.

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Earlier this year, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an interview that New Delhi and Beijing had to “urgently address” the border dispute and resolve the “abnormality” in their bilateral ties.

Days after Modi was elected for his third consecutive term, Jaishankar insisted that New Delhi would focus on finding solutions to its border disagreements with both China and Pakistan. Last month, the Chinese embassy in India released a statement, saying it was willing to work with New Delhi to improve relations.

Despite the differences, China emerged as India’s largest trading partner in the last financial year, with two-way commerce reaching $118.4 billion.

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