As you are aware the 6th meeting of the Senior Commanders of India and China took place on 21 September in Moldo.
This meeting took place in the backdrop of the meeting of the Defence Ministers of India and China in Moscow on 4th September and also the meeting of the two Foreign Ministers on 10 September. The two Foreign Ministers had reached an agreement that the two sides should continue the dialogue and quickly and comprehensively disengage in all the friction areas.
The Senior Commanders met after a period of nearly 50 days.
After the meeting the two sides have also issued a joint press release that you would have already seen.
I would like to highlight that this is the first joint press release after any Senior Commander’s meeting. As such, it reflects the stated commitment of both sides to disengage along the LAC. As we have pointed out earlier, disengagement is a complex process that requires redeployment of troops by each side towards their regular posts on their respective sides of the LAC. This would require mutually agreed reciprocal actions. Even as two sides work towards complete disengagement in all friction areas, it is at the same time also necessary to ensure stability on the ground. The latest Senior Commander’s meeting should be seen in all this overall context.
The 6th meeting gave the Senior Commanders an opportunity to have candid and in-depth exchanges of views on stabilizing the situation along the LAC. The two sides have also decided to strengthen the ground communication to avoid any further misunderstandings and misjudgments, stop sending more troops to the frontline, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground, and avoid taking any actions that may complicate the situation.
The way ahead will be to refrain from making any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo, while the two sides continue their discussions to achieve complete disengagement in all friction areas and to ensure full restoration of peace and tranquility in the border areas.
In this regard, the two sides have also decided to have the next meeting of the Senior Commanders at the earliest. In parallel, the next meeting of the WMCC is also likely to take place soon.
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