India, China agree to find 'early resolution' to remaining issues of Ladakh standoff

The decision was made at the 23rd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) on Thursday.

The Indian delegation was led by the Additional Secretary (East Asia) from the Ministry of External Affairs while the Director General of the Boundary & Oceanic Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs led the Chinese delegation.

They recalled the agreement between the foreign ministers of both the countries during their meeting in September in Dushanbe that military and diplomatic officials of the two sides should continue their discussions to resolve the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh.

Accordingly, the two sides had candid and in-depth discussions on the situation along the LAC in Western Sector of India-China Border Areas and also reviewed the developments since the last meeting of the Senior Commanders of both sides which was held on Oct 10.

"The two sides also agreed that both sides should in the interim also continue to ensure a stable ground situation and avoid any untoward incident," a statement from the Ministry of external affairs (MEA) said.

"It was agreed that both sides should hold the next (14th) round of the Senior Commanders meeting at an early date to achieve the objective of complete disengagement from all the friction points along the LAC in the Western Sector in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols," it added.

This comes as India and China continue to have stand-offs between the troops of the two nations in the area.

Situation at the area remains tense with fresh satellite images showing construction works by China in Arunachal Pradesh.

A statement from the Chinese military's Western Theater Command reportedly said, "India insists on unreasonable and unrealistic demands, adding difficulties to the negotiations."