India, China can jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in border areas: Chinese FM

Image courtesy: Twitter/Global Times

New Delhi: As the commander-level talks between India and China to ease tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh concluded on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry said the talks would help in easing the border situation.

China's official newspaper Global Times shared this on social media and tweeted, "#Chinese and #Indian border troops held the 4th commander-level talks on Tue, which achieved progress in pushing forward disengagement of frontline border troops from both countries and easing border situation: Chinese FM" 

#Chinese and #Indian border troops held the 4th commander-level talks on Tue, which achieved progress in pushing forward disengagement of frontline border troops from both countries and easing border situation: Chinese FM pic.twitter.com/mTKdA8JQNA — Global Times (@globaltimesnews) July 15, 2020

Global Times also quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday as saying "The border troops of China and India held their fourth commander-level talks on Tuesday, with the two sides making positive progress in further disengaging the frontline troops in the western section of the border."

The statement was made by Hua Chunying, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, at Wednesday's media briefing. 

Hua reportedly said the talks also helped to ease the border situation and added "We hope that India can work with China to implement the consensus reached by the two sides with concrete actions and jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border areas."

During the course of the intense and complex negotiations between senior commanders of the two armies that lasted nearly 15 hours, the Indian delegation apprised the Chinese People's Liberation Army about the "red lines" and conveyed that the onus was largely on China to improve the overall situation in the region, government sources told PTI in New Delhi.

The Indian delegation was led by Lt Gen Harinder Singh, the commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, while the Chinese side was headed by the commander of the South Xinjiang military region Maj Gen Liu Lin.

The Lt General-level talks took place days after implementation of the first phase of the disengagement process from the friction points.

Notably, the PLA has already completed pulling back troops from Gogra, Hot Springs, and Galwan Valley and significantly thinned down its presence in the ridgeline of Finger Four in the Pangong Tso area in the last one week.

The armies of India and China were locked in a bitter standoff in multiple locations in eastern Ladakh since May 5. This tension further escalated after the violent clashes in Galwan Valley in which 20 Indian Army personnel were martyred.