China and India should put border issue at ‘appropriate place’: Chinese FM

(Reuters): China and India should put their border issue at an “appropriate place” in bilateral relations, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Ajit Doval, India’s national security adviser, in a meeting on Wednesday, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV.

The two officials reaffirmed the two countries’ commitment to seek a package of solutions to the border dispute that is fair and acceptable for both, CCTV’s readout of the meeting in Beijing showed.

They also highlighted strengthening routine controls and management of the border to jointly maintain peace in the area, according to CCTV.

The meeting in Beijing between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval followed a milestone pact two months ago on lowering military tensions at a contested part of their border.

Wang called on the two sides to engage in candid communication, enhance mutual trust and promote collaboration, a Chinese foreign ministry statement said.

The two officials reaffirmed both sides’ commitment to seek a package of solutions to the dispute that was fair and acceptable for both, the ministry said.

Wednesday’s meeting marked the first formal talks between the two countries’ special representatives on Sino-India border issues since late 2019.

Paving the way for the talks was an agreement in October allowing for the disengagement of their troops at two face-off points.

The world’s two most populous nations are intense geopolitical rivals and have accused each other of trying to seize territory along their unofficial divide, known as the Line of Actual Control.

Their shared 3,500-kilometre frontier has been a perennial source of tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours. China and India fought a brief but bloody border war in 1962.

Relations plummeted after a brutal skirmish in 2020 high in their Himalayan borderlands that killed at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers.

However, New Delhi said in October it had reached an agreement with Beijing on patrols in disputed areas. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rare formal meeting soon after.