Chinese, Indian FMs agree to safeguard border peace, tranquility

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday highlighted the importance of maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas.

During their meeting in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, Wang said that China has always been handling the China-India boundary issue with a positive attitude.

The communication between the diplomatic and military departments of the two countries has been earnest and effective, and the situation on the borders is generally easing, he noted.

Wang expressed his hope that India will meet China halfway, working to stabilize the situation and gradually shift from emergency response to regular management and control.

He called on the two sides to consolidate the achievements of disengagement of front-line troops, strictly abide by the agreements and consensuses reached between the two countries, jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border areas and prevent the recurrence of border-related incidents.

Wang pointed out that China and India, as two major emerging economies, should continue to adhere to the strategic consensus of not posing threats to each other but providing opportunities for each other's development, and push bilateral relations and practical cooperation onto the track of sound and stable development.

This is not only in the common interests of the two countries, but also conducive to regional and world peace and development, he stressed.

Jaishankar noted that India and China have made progress in dealing with the border situation, while there are still some issues to be resolved.

He said India is ready to work with China, abide by the agreements reached between the two sides, push for positive outcome of the next round of the commander-level talks between the border troops of the two countries and earnestly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border areas.

Jaishankar hopes that the two countries will make joint efforts to bring India-China relations back on track and guide all parties to form a more positive perception of the mutually-beneficial relationship.

The Indian side does not believe in the clash of civilizations and maintains that it is very important for Asian countries to be united, he said, underlining that unity among Asian countries cannot be achieved without India-China cooperation.

He said India is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with China within the frameworks of BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and jointly tackle terrorism and other global challenges.