Taking stock of the “lessons learnt” from the recent stand-off in Ladakh after a Chinese incursion there, India and China have decided to take further measures for maintaining peace and tranquillity along their border.
This was disclosed after discussions on ‘mutual interest and concern’ between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang, who met here for the second time since yesterday, covering a wide range of issues including boundary dispute, trans-border rivers and trade deficit.
Addressing a joint press meet, the two leaders acknowledged their talks — first last night and then this morning — had been “candid” and “frank”, a diplomatic euphemism for their forthright discussions.
Noting that they “took stock of lessons learnt from the recent incident in the western sector, when existing mechanisms proved their worth”, Singh announced: “We have tasked our special representatives to consider further measures that may be needed to maintain peace and tranquillity along the border.
“We agreed that our special representatives will meet soon to continue discussions, seeking early agreement on a framework for a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable boundary settlement.”
The talks come nearly a month after the 19-km-deep incursion by the Chinese troops in Depsang valley in Ladakh which was resolved only two weeks ago.
On his part, Li, while admitting that there were “some problems” between the two countries, said: “Both sides believe that, with regard to the boundary question, one that is leftover by history, the two sides have over time established the principles on this question.
“In the meantime, we have worked together to maintain tranquillity and peace on the border,” the Chinese Premier said, adding, “We need to confront various issues with a broad mind and conduct dialogue on those issues in a mature and sensible way.
“We need to appropriately handle our cooperation by maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas and on the trans-border river issues.”