China and India agree not to send more troops to border, says Chinese defence ministry
- Senior military officials from both countries met on Monday and agreed that neither side should take any unilateral action in the region
- Tensions in the area erupted into frontier clash in June, during which 20 Indian soldiers were killed
A joint press release issued by the Indian government in New Delhi said that both sides had agreed to “avoid misunderstandings and misjudgments”, and “refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground”.
“The two sides also agreed to hold the 7th round of Military Commander-Level Meeting as soon as possible,” the release said.
01:55
Indian army prepares camels for patrols along tense border with China
Thousands of Indian and Chinese troops are currently amassed along a disputed stretch of border in the Ladakh region, bordering Tibet.
After weeks of tensions, a stand-off in the remote western Himalayan region erupted into a bloody hand-to-hand clash in June in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed and China suffered an unspecified number of casualties.
Both countries have since said they are attempting to resolve the situation through diplomatic and military channels but talks appeared to have made little headway so far.
Why Russia’s getting involved in the China-India border dispute
Tensions remains high, with Indian and Chinese troops separated by only a few hundred metres in some areas and both sides bringing up reinforcements and supplies.
China and India said on September 11 that they had agreed to de-escalate the situation and restore “peace and tranquillity” following a high-level diplomatic meeting in Moscow.
Both sides agreed at the time that troops from both sides should quickly disengage and ease tensions.
The nuclear-armed neighbours have not been able to agree on their 3,488-km-long border, despite several rounds of talks over the years. The two countries fought a brief but bloody border war in 1962 and distrust has occasionally led to flare-ups ever since.
