New Delhi, Mar 26 (UNI) After agreeing to maintain and strengthen diplomatic and military mechanisms for effective border management, India and China today decided to take forward resumption of direct flights, interaction of media and think tanks and celebrate the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.
On Tuesday, India and China had held the 33rd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) in Beijing.
On Wednesday, the two sides held official consultations between their Foreign Ministries.
Gourangalal Das, Joint Secretary(East Asia) in the MEA held a consultative meeting with Liu Jinsong, Director General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing.
They took positive note of the developments in bilateral relations since the meeting of the leaders of India and China in October 2024, in reference to the meeting between PM Modi and President Xi Jinping in Kazan. In the intervening period, the Foreign Ministers have met twice, while the Special Representatives on the India-China boundary question have held their 23rd meeting. These high-level meetings have provided strategic guidance to stabilise and further develop relations, a statement said.
In today's meeting, the two sides reviewed the action taken by them to implement the strategic direction as also the specific steps agreed in the meeting between Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister in January 2025 to stabilise and rebuild ties.
They agreed to continue efforts to further facilitate and promote people-to-people exchanges, including arrangements for resumption of direct flights, interaction of media and think-tanks, and celebration of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
The two sides have made further progress on the modalities to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in 2025.
The two sides took stock of the planned exchanges and activities this year.
They discussed resumption of dialogue mechanisms in a step-by-step manner to utilize them to address each other’s priority areas of interest and concern and move relations on to a more stable and predictable path, it said.
During Tuesday’s discussions, the two sides had comprehensively reviewed the situation along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas.
Peace and tranquility on the border are critical for the smooth development of overall bilateral relations. The two sides explored various measures and proposals to give effect to the decisions taken during the 23rd meeting of the Special Representatives on the India-China boundary question in Beijing in December 2024 and to advance effective border management.
The two sides agreed to maintain and strengthen relevant diplomatic and military mechanisms towards this end. They also exchanged views on early resumption of cross-border cooperation and exchanges, including on trans-border rivers and Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra.
The two sides agreed to work together to make substantial preparation for the next meeting of the Special Representatives (SR), which will be held in India later this year.
UNI RN