Calling it a “positive development”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said India and China have completed the final process of withdrawal of troops on October 21 and the implementation process is underway.
The External Affairs Minister was holding a joint press conference with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong in Canberra.
Asked about the recent troop withdrawal between India and China, Jaishankar said, “On October 21 we signed the last agreement on troop withdrawal, we had done some earlier as well. These are currently in the process of implementation.” The last agreement was mainly around patrolling rights, so we believe that overall it is a positive development.”
The External Affairs Minister said that Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to a meeting between the National Security Advisors and Foreign Ministers of the two countries.
“The fact is that, once that happens, the process of withdrawal of troops is completed, we have other challenges to face, including reducing forces, but the Prime Minister on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting in Kazan Modi and President Xi had a meeting. It was agreed that the foreign minister and the national security advisor would meet, so we will have to consider it further.”
PM Modi and Chinese President Xi held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia. Prime Minister Modi said that relations between the two countries are important for the people of India and China and for regional and global peace and stability.
This sentiment was also echoed by India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, who last week said, “Discussions are ongoing at both diplomatic and military levels between India and China to resolve the conflicts, in certain areas along the LAC. Following recent negotiations, there is a broad consensus to restore the situation on the ground. This agreement includes rights related to patrolling and grazing in traditional areas.”
He said, “Based on this consensus, the process of withdrawal of troops is almost complete. We will only try to move ahead with the withdrawal, but for this we will have to wait a little more.”
This came after both India and China confirmed that an agreement has been reached between the two countries regarding patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the India-China border areas.
The border standoff between India and China began in 2020 along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, triggered by Chinese military actions. Due to this incident, there was tension between the two countries for a long time, which put a lot of tension in their relations.
MFA Spokesperson: Chinese and Indian troops are implementing the proposals decided by both sides on issues related to the border area, which is progressing smoothly at this time. pic.twitter.com/iB7mWPQUfs
– Yu Jing (@ChinaSpox_India) 5 November 2024
Earlier in the day, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India announced on social media platform X, “Chinese and Indian troops are implementing the resolutions decided by the two sides on issues related to the border area, which is going smoothly.” Is.” Moment”.
Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong had also earlier said that he hoped bilateral relations would progress smoothly and that relations between the two countries would not be restricted or hindered by specific disagreements.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
