New Delhi: India and China agreed on Friday to hold the next round of military-level talks at an early date to resolve the remaining issues in eastern Ladakh and create conditions for the restoration of normalcy in the bilateral ties, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. It was the only decision taken at a meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on the India-China Border Affairs as there was no breakthrough to resolve the issues at the key friction points of Demchok and Depsang.
The MEA said the two sides agreed to continue discussions through diplomatic and military channels to resolve the remaining issues "at the earliest" so as to create conditions for the restoration of normalcy in the bilateral relations.
"To achieve the objective of resolution of remaining issues along the LAC in the Western Sector in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols, they agreed to hold the next (17th) round of the Senior Commanders meeting at an early date," the MEA said in a statement.
Though the two sides disengaged from Patrolling Point 15 (PP-15) last month, there has been no progress on resolving the standoff in the Demchok and Depsang regions.
The MEA said the two sides reviewed the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas.
Eastern Ladakh is officially referred to as the Western Sector. India and China held a high-level military dialogue on July 17 that lasted for nearly 12 hours and a half.
In line with a decision taken at the meeting, the two sides carried out disengagement from Patrolling Point 15 in the Gogra-Hotsprings area last month.