India, China must properly handle border issues to prevent ties from falling into ‘negative cycle’: Chinese FM to Jaishankar

BEIJING: China and India must cherish the “hard-won” situation, should maintain the momentum of consultation, improve border control mechanism and advance border negotiation process, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told Indian counterpart S Jaishankar during a phone call.

According to the Chinese-state media Global Times, Wang said that India and China should properly handle border issues to prevent bilateral relations from falling into a “negative cycle”.
“China and India must cherish the hard-won situation, maintain the momentum of consultation, improve border control mechanism, advance border negotiation process, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in phone call Thursday with Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar,” Global Times tweeted.

“China and #India should follow the right path of mutual trust and cooperation instead of the path of suspicion or retrogressive path. Properly handle border issues to prevent bilateral relations from falling into a negative cycle,” it added.

Jaishankar and Wang had a telephonic conversation on Thursday. This comes days after India and China completed the disengagement process around Pangong Tso.

“Spoke to State Councillor & Foreign Minister Wang Yi this afternoon. Discussed the implementation of our Moscow Agreement and reviewed the status of disengagement,” Jaishankar tweeted, without giving details.

Moscow agreement is the five points consensus reached in September last year during a meeting between Jaishankar and Wang in the Russian capital.

It includes directions to border troops to continue the dialogue, quickly disengage and maintain distance, as well as the need for new confidence-building measures. India and China have had a stand-off along the LAC since April-May last year due to actions of the Chinese Army and have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks. Early this month, India and China began disengagement of the frontline troops in the Pangong Lake area.

Last week, the two sides held the 10th round of the China-India Corps Commander level meeting during which they “positively appraised” the smooth completion of disengagement of frontline troops in the Pangong Lake area and agreed to continue their communication and push for a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues. (ANI)