On Friday, the foreign ministries of China and India agreed in a joint statement that their troops should be released quickly from the months-long blockade on their long-disputed Himalayan border.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar met during a meeting of SCO foreign ministers in Moscow to try and end the dispute, the most serious in decades on the innocent border.
“The The two foreign ministers agreed that the current situation in the border areas was not in the interest of both parties. “Border troops on both sides should continue talks, get rid of them quickly, maintain proper distance and reduce tensions,” the statement said.
Separately, China’s foreign ministry said it would communicate with India through diplomatic and military channels and commit to “re-establishing peace and tranquility” in the disputed border area.
Elaborating on the Moscow meeting, China said Wang had told Jaishankar that “it is imperative to immediately stop firing and both dangerous measures such as provocations that violate commitments made by both sides.”
He added that all personnel and equipment misbehaving at the border would have to be moved and border troops on both sides would have to be “quickly disbanded” to escalate the situation.
‘Puffing state’
The Global Times, a tabloid controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, takes a tougher tone in an editorial published ahead of a meeting of the two ministers.
“When diplomatic engagement fails, the Chinese side must be fully prepared to take military action, and its next troops must be able to respond to the crisis, and be prepared to fight at any time,” the letter said.
He accused India of being at odds over the 1962 conflict, and described the country as follows.Unprecedented state of puffing “.
# 环球 Editorial: If India wants peace, China and India should support the November 7, 1959 LAC. If India wants a war, China will command. Let’s see in which country another country can be excluded. https://t.co/O0EkXVACG8 pic.twitter.com/tdbOEvjVUQ
– Global Times (Globaltime News) September 10, 2020
Wang and Jaishanka’s meeting came after a border clash earlier this week when each accused the accused of firing into the air during a confrontation on their border in the western Himalayas, in violation of a long-held protocol on the use of weapons on sensitive borders.
The Chinese ministry said the two countries reached a five-point consensus on easing tensions in the region, including the need to adhere to existing agreements to ensure peace.
Source:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
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