China, India hold rare talks, stressing need to 'maintain peace' over border disputes

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China held rare high-level talks with India on Wednesday at which it stressed the need to “maintain the peace” and seek a “comprehensive solution” to their border disputes.

The meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in Beijing comes amid easing tensions between the giant neighbours.

It is the first such meeting since December 2019 and comes after New Delhi announced an agreement with Beijing in October on patrols in disputed areas.

They had been at a standstill since a deadly clash between soldiers from the two countries in 2020 on the border between Tibet and the Indian region of Ladakh, which left at least 20 dead on the Indian side and four among the Chinese.

Wang and Doval held “substantive discussions”, the Chinese foreign ministry said, citing several “points of consensus”.

“The two sides agreed to continue to take measures to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas and promote the sound and steady development of bilateral relations,” it said.

China and India “will continue to seek a comprehensive solution to the boundary question that is fair, reasonable and acceptable to both sides and take positive measures to promote the process,” according to Beijing.

The two officials met within the framework of a bilateral discussion mechanism created in 2003, that of “special representatives” for border issues.

Beijing and New Delhi agreed Wednesday to hold another meeting in India in 2025, the ministry said.

The October deal was announced by India shortly before a rare formal meeting – the first in five years – between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of a BRICS summit.

The two Asian giants share a 3,500-kilometre (2,200-mile) border that remains a potential source of tensions, with sporadic clashes.

Beijing and New Delhi regularly accuse each other of trying to seize territory along their unofficial high-altitude demarcation line.