China has confirmed that troops have disengaged in four areas in Eastern Ladakh, including the Galwan Valley, signalling potential progress in efforts to de-escalate tensions along the disputed border.
The announcement follows a meeting in Russia between India's National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, and Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, where both nations agreed to work together to improve bilateral relations.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the BRICS high-ranking officials' conference on security in St Petersburg, where Doval and Wang discussed recent consultations on border issues.
"In recent years, front-line armies of the two countries have realised disengagement in four areas in the Western sector of the China-India border, including the Galwan Valley," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a press briefing on Friday.
"The China-India border situation is generally stable and under control," she added.
Mao's remarks come a day after India's External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, stated in Geneva that around 75 per cent of the “disengagement problems” with China have been resolved.
However, Jaishankar highlighted that the ongoing issue is the increasing militarisation along the frontier, which remains a significant point of concern for India.
The significant Doval-Wang meeting
Doval and Wang, who serve as the Special Representatives for the India-China border talks mechanism, emphasised the importance of maintaining stability in bilateral relations.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry's press release following the meeting said, "Both parties expressed the belief that the stability of the China-India relations is in the fundamental and long-term interests of the two peoples and conducive to regional peace and development."
The press release noted that China and India agreed to implement the consensus reached by their leaders, enhance mutual understanding and trust, and maintain continuous communication.
These steps are seen as necessary for creating conditions that could improve bilateral ties, strained since the military standoff in Eastern Ladakh began over four years ago.
Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, underscored the importance of cooperation between the two countries.
"Facing a turbulent world, China and India as two ancient eastern civilisations and emerging developing countries should adhere to independence, choose unity and cooperation, and avoid consuming each other," Wang said, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
He further expressed hope that both sides would "properly handle their differences in a pragmatic approach and find the right way to get along with each other and push the China-India relations back on track for healthy, stable, and sustainable development."
Ongoing efforts
During their meeting, Doval and Wang reviewed the progress made in recent consultations on border issues and agreed to deliver on the common understandings reached by their leaders.
They emphasised the need to create conditions for improving bilateral ties and maintaining open channels of communication.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India also released a statement following the talks, confirming that both countries have agreed to work with "urgency" and "redouble" their efforts to achieve complete disengagement in the remaining friction points in Eastern Ladakh.
Doval reiterated India's position that peace and tranquillity in the border areas and respect for the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are essential for normalising bilateral relations.
"In the meeting, Doval conveyed to Wang that peace and tranquillity in border areas and respect for the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are essential for the return of normalcy in bilateral ties," the MEA press release stated.
Challenges
The recent Doval-Wang meeting comes just two weeks after India and China held diplomatic talks, where both sides agreed to intensify contacts through diplomatic and military channels to resolve the outstanding issues.
Despite these engagements, a full resolution of the border row has yet to be achieved, even though the two sides have managed to disengage from several friction points.
The ties between India and China took a significant downturn following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, the most severe military conflict between the two sides in decades.
Since then, India has maintained that its relationship with China cannot return to normal unless there is peace in the border areas.
So far, both nations have held 21 rounds of Corps Commander-level talks to address the border standoff. However, the path to a full resolution remains challenging, given the complex nature of the territorial dispute and the recent military build-ups by both sides.
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