'Peace in border areas essential'
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi held a one-hour meeting on Wednesday in Dushanbe with a focus on resolving the outstanding issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
After the talks, Jaishankar said he highlighted that unilateral change of status quo was not acceptable to India and that both sides agreed on convening an early meeting of the senior military commanders.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of a foreign ministerial meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
"Concluded a one-hour bilateral meeting with State Councilor and FM Wang Yi of China on the sidelines of Dushanbe SCO Foreign Ministers Meeting. Discussions focused on the outstanding issues along the LAC in the Western Sector," Jaishankar tweeted.
He said full restoration and maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas was essential for the development of the bilateral ties.
"Highlighted that unilateral change of status quo is not acceptable. Full restoration and maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas are essential for development of our ties," Jaishankar said.
Meanwhile, the Army on Wednesday stated that there has been no attempt by the Indian or the Chinese side to occupy the areas in eastern Ladakh from where they disengaged in February and both sides are engaged in talks to resolve the remaining issues in the region.
The Army said it has been monitoring activities by the People's Liberation Army (PLA), including the turnover of troops in the region.
The Army made the comments as part of a statement trashing a media report that said the Chinese military has again crossed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh at several places and that there has been at least one incident of clash between the two sides.
"Ever since the disengagement agreement in February this year, there has been no attempt by either side to occupy the areas from where the disengagement had been undertaken. There have been no clashes in Galwan or any other area, as reported in the article," the Army said.
It also said that the report mentioning that agreements with China have collapsed is "false and baseless".
