India, China hold 36th WMCC talks, underline peace along LAC vital for bilateral ties

India and China held the 36th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) in New Delhi on August 6, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The Indian delegation was led by Sujit Ghosh, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs, while the Chinese delegation was led by Hou Yanqi, Director General of the Boundary and Oceanic Affairs Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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According to the MEA, the two sides held frank discussions and reviewed the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Both sides underlined that maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas is essential for the overall development of bilateral relations.

The two sides agreed to continue using existing diplomatic and military channels, including the WMCC and local commander-level meetings, along with other agreed mechanisms, to resolve outstanding issues and avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation along the LAC, the MEA said.

As a follow-up to the outcomes of the 24th round of Special Representatives (SR) talks, the two sides held detailed exchanges on issues related to boundary delimitation, border management, mechanism-building and trans-border cooperation.

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The Indian side reiterated the need for early convening of the next meeting of the Expert Level Mechanism on trans-border rivers and emphasised the importance of sharing technical details on upstream projects, according to the statement.