New Delhi:

India and China on Thursday had a “frank, constructive and forward-looking” exchange of views on the situation along the LAC to “narrow down” differences and find an early resolution to outstanding issues, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The 31st meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination (WMCC) on India-China Border Affairs was held in Beijing, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

During the meeting, it was reiterated that “restoration of peace and tranquillity, and respect for the LAC are the essential basis for restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations”, it said.

In line with the guidance provided by the two foreign ministers’ meetings in Astana and Vientiane in July to accelerate the discussions, and building on the WMCC meeting held last month, “the two sides had a frank, constructive and forward-looking exchange of views on the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to narrow down the differences and find early resolution of the outstanding issues”, the statement said.

For this, they further agreed for “intensified contact through diplomatic and military channels”.

Gourangalal Das, Joint Secretary (east Asia), from the MEA led the Indian delegation. The Chinese delegation was led by Hong Liang, director general of the Boundary & Ocean Affairs Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the meantime, the two sides decided to jointly uphold peace and tranquillity on the ground in the border areas, in accordance with relevant bilateral agreements, protocols and understandings reached between the two governments, the MEA statement said.

The leader of the Indian delegation also called on the vice-minister in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The 30th meeting of the WMCC was held in New Delhi on July 31.

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