Total pullback must to improve ties: India to China at LAC talks

NEW DELHI: With military disengagement in eastern Ladakh still incomplete, India and China held another round of diplomatic talks to review the current LAC situation and called for early meeting between senior commanders to help resolve the situation.
The government said both sides have agreed that, as instructed by their foreign ministers, they should continue the discussions through diplomatic and military channels to resolve the remaining issues along the LAC at the earliest so as to create conditions for restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations.
In this context, said the government, they agreed to hold the next (16th) round of the senior commanders’ meeting at an early date to achieve the objective of complete disengagement from “all friction points along the LAC in the Western Sector in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols”. India is understood to have reiterated in the meeting that complete disengagement at all friction points is a must for any forward movement in bilateral ties.
According to China, the two sides had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on the current situation and agreed to “earnestly implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries...”
This was the 24th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs and the first since November last year.
Separately, in a media briefing in Beijing, China reiterated its position that the boundary question doesn’t represent the whole of China-India relations and “we should put it in an appropriate position in bilateral relations”.