India and China had the 31stWMCC in Beijing on August 29, 2024 in order to discuss some of the persisting issues on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in its statement said that there was a “constructive and result oriented dialogue” that involved a “frank and comprehensive exchange of views” and that both parties sought to “identify the areas of convergence and divergence and to try to find early solutions to the matters of disagreement”.
It took place a month past the 30th WMCC meeting which was held on the 31st of July, 2024. There were no Corps Commander-level military talks between these two meetings held on 6 and 7 October. The discussions were held after seeing direction from two more meetings between the officials of India and china’s foreign ministers in Astana and Vientiane in July 2024 need for early implementation of agreed recommendations. It was decided to bring into focus the top-level contacts through diplomatic and military ‘hotline’.
The Indian side was headed by Gourangalal Das, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs while the Chinese side was headed by Hong Liang, Director General of the Boundary & Ocean Affairs Department of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The two sides said they would “collectively maintain”, based on their relevant treaties, conventions and mutual understanding, peace and stability in the border regions of the two countries. The MEA pointed out that maintenance of peace, tranquillity and respect for the LAC is central to the normalisation of relations.
The recent meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) comes after two rare face-to-face talks between Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Astana, Kazakhstan, on June 8 and later in the SCO memorial and a Laos get-together. All the Central Asian states expressed concern about the prolonged standoff at LAC, and both ministers underlined the need to resolve the situation with the purpose and urgency, Bipin Rawat said. He noted that the diplomatic and military talks remain an essential part of the ongoing process to resolve the situation in eastern Ladakh.
