India told China that their bilateral relations would only develop when both countries pull their troops back from a confrontation on their disputed Himalayan border, the Indian foreign minister said.
Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar discussed the possibility of both sides pulling back when he met Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on the sidelines of a regional conference in Dushanbe on Thursday.
“Discussed disengagement in our border areas. Underlined that progress in this regard is essential for restoration of peace and tranquillity, which is the basis for development of bilateral ties,” Jaishankar wrote on Twitter.
Photo: China Central Television / AFP
Thousands of Indian and Chinese soldiers have been locked in confrontation in the western Himalayas since last year, when animosity over a decades-old border dispute blew up.
In June last year, tension erupted into hand-to-hand fighting resulting in deaths on both sides, the first between them in decades.
After several rounds of talks between their commanders, their forces have stepped back on some sections of the border, including Pangong Tso, a contested glacial lake area near the site of last year’s clashes.
Nevertheless, troops backed by artillery remain stationed in close proximity in other sectors.
“China has always handled the China-India border issue properly and with a positive attitude,” Wang said.
Both sides should “work together to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas, and stop border incidents from recurring,” he added.
As two major emerging economies, China and India should push bilateral ties back to a healthy and stable track, a statement from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs cited Wang as saying.
China and India went to war over their border in 1962 and have never resolved the dispute.
Even so, in the past few years, trade ties have flourished.
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