China hopes India will jointly work to find solution to border issue: Wang Wenbin

Beijing: A Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson on Wednesday hoped that India would work with China, following a common understanding reached between the leaders of two countries and maintain communication to find a solution to the border issue at an early date.

 “We hope that India will work with us and follow the common understandings reached by the two leaders and the spirit of the agreements and maintain communication to find solution to the border issue at an early date,” said Wang Wenbin during his regular briefing while commenting on a statement by Indian External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar regarding China-India border dispute.

He said both China and India believe an early settlement of the situation on China-India border serves the common interest of the two sides.

“We hope that the two sides will follow the common understanding between the leaders and the spirit of the relevant agreements maintaining communication through diplomatic and military channels and find a solution to the relevant border issues that can be accepted by the two sides at an early date,” he added.

Wang Wenbin remarked that China has stressed multiple times that the boundary question does not represent the entirety of the China-India relations which should be placed appropriately in the bilateral relations and managed properly.

“We hope that India will work in the same direction with us and approach the bilateral relations from a strategic height and longterm perspective,” said Wang.

 The spokesperson opined that the two sides should enhance mutual trust and avoid misunderstanding, adding, We should handle differences properly to develop our bilateral relations in the sound and steady track.

When his attention was drawn that Dr Jaishankar referred to resolution of the Eastern Ladakh conflict and not the entire boundary dispute, he said, the two things in nature are the same.

The China-India disputed border covers nearly 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) of frontier that the two countries call the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and that stretches from Ladakh in the north to the Indian state of Sikkim in the northeast.

The two countries have been trying to settle their border dispute since the early 1990s without success. Since then, soldiers from the two sides have frequently faced off along the contested frontier.