India and China failed to make headway in resolving their protracted military stand-off at eastern Ladakh at the 29th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) held in Beijing on Wednesday.
The decision was taken at the 24th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs. The Indian delegation was led by Naveen Srivastava, Additional Secretary (East Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs while the Director-General of the Boundary & Oceanic Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs led the Chinese delegation.
He also stated that the disengagement in the Pangong Tso Lake area has been completed by the Indian and Chinese sides.
The next concern for China is withdrawing to status quo ante. If it does so early, it would signal a Chinese defeat as at Doklam. If it delays, then it would face the tough Ladakh winter.
The two sides recalled the agreement reached between the two foreign ministers on 17 June as well as the agreement between two Special Representatives (SRs) during their telephonic conversation on 5 July.
Srivastava said the senior military commanders, at their meeting on 30 June, discussed issues related to disengagement at the face-off sites along the LAC and de-escalation from the border areas.
They recalled the conversation last week between External Affairs Minister and Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and agreed to maintain communication both at diplomatic and military level, including under the framework of WMCC, to resolve the existing situation peacefully.
