China confirms agreement to end standoff in eastern Ladakh

Beijing |China on Tuesday confirmed that it has reached an agreement with India to end the standoff between the two armies in eastern Ladakh.

“Over a recent period, China and India have been in close communication through diplomatic and military channels on issues related to the China-India border,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a media briefing here.

Now, the two sides have reached a resolution on the “relevant matters,” he said.

He added China will work with India to implement it but declined to provide details.

On the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the margins of the BRICS summit at Russia's Kazan, he said, “We will keep you updated if anything comes up.” India on Monday announced it has reached an agreement with China on patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, in a major breakthrough in ending the over four-year-long military standoff between the two armies.

The ties between the two Asian giants nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar too on Monday said Indian and Chinese soldiers will be able to resume patrolling in the way they had been doing before the border face-off began and the disengagement process with China has been completed.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, at a media briefing in New Delhi, said the agreement was firmed up following negotiations by the two sides over the last several weeks and that it will lead to a resolution of the issues that had arisen in 2020.

"Over the last several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other in a variety of forums," the foreign secretary said.

"As a result of these discussions, agreement has been arrived at patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas, leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020," Misri added.