India-China WMCC meeting held on LAC faceoff; 7th round of talks soon

India-China Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) meeting was held on Wednesday to discuss the border standoff in eastern Ladakh. The meeting was held virtually between the diplomats of the two countries. Joint Secretary MEA Mr. Naveen Srivastava represented India in the meeting while China was represented by the Director-General of the Boundary and Oceanic Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The main aim of the meeting was to decide the agenda of the 7th corps commanders' meet, whose date is yet to be decided. This was the 19th WMCC meet since the mechanism came up in 2012, and the 5th such meet after the Galwan clash sparked tension at the LAC.

The virtual talks attempted to de-escalate tensions with diplomatic involvements and to implement the five-point agreement reached between their foreign ministers in Moscow on September 10. In Bejing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing that China and India are holding the 19th meeting of the WMCC on China-India Border Affairs. The main topics discussed are how to implement the five-point consensus reached in Moscow by the two foreign ministers to resolve outstanding issues on the ground and to ease the situation along the border, he said.

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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi had held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO) meet in the backdrop of a deteriorating situation in eastern Ladakh triggered by a fresh confrontation between the armies of the two countries.

At the meeting, the two sides reached a five-point agreement that included measures like quick disengagement of troops, avoiding action that could escalate tensions, adherence to all agreements and protocols on border management and steps to restore peace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Ahead of the WMCC India had strongly reacted to China's perception of the LAC, the de-facto Sino-India border spanning a length of nearly 3,500 km. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson recently insisted that China abides by the LAC as proposed by then Premier Zhou Enlai to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in a letter dated November 7, 1959.

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In a sharp reaction, India on Tuesday categorically rejected China's "so-called unilaterally defined" LAC of 1959 and asked the neighbouring country to refrain from advancing an "untenable" interpretation of the de-facto border. The Indian government also reminded China that its insistence there is only "one LAC" is contrary to the solemn commitments made by Beijing in previous bilateral agreements, and expected it will "sincerely" abide by them in their entirety.

Ministry of External affairs conveyed after the WMCC was concluded on Wednesday that the outcome of the 6th Senior Commanders meeting on 21 September is being evaluated. They emphasized the need to implement the steps outlined in the joint press release issued after the last meeting of the senior commanders so as to avoid misunderstandings and to maintain stability on the ground. In this context, the need to strengthen communication, especially between the ground commanders, was emphasized by both sides.

The statement from the MEA also said that both sides agreed to continue to maintain close consultations at the diplomatic and military levels. In this regard, they agreed that the next (7th) round of the meeting of Senior Commanders should be held at an early date so that both sides can work towards early and complete peaceful disengagement of the troops along the LAC.

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