India-China reviewed situation along the border, discussed ways for border management at WMCC

On Thursday, September 27, 2018 India, China held 12th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) at Chengdu in Sichuan province of China. The talks were led by Joint Secretary (East Asia) of Ministry for External affairs of India, Pranay Verma and Director General, Department of Boundary and Oceanic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, Yi Xianliang.

Both sides discussed the effective border management and explored various measures to enhance mutual trust and understanding with the strategic guidance provided by the leaders of two countries at the Wuhan Summit.

The Ministry of External Affairs statement said, “Both sides reviewed the situation along the India-China border areas. They discussed ways to effectively manage border areas in accordance with the strategic guidance provided by the leaders of the two countries at the Wuhan Summit and explored various confidence building measures with a view to further enhance mutual trust and understanding”.

Press Release on 12th WMCC on India-China border Affairs:https://t.co/rlpf9NzJEK pic.twitter.com/p0Kfiklq7f

— India in China (@EOIBeijing) September 27, 2018

It said, “The Indian side emphasized that peace and tranquility in the India-China border areas is an important prerequisite for smooth development of their bilateral relations”.

The statement added that the two sided agreed to hold the next meeting of WMCC at a mutually convenient time.

WMCC was established in 2012 for effective border management, as well as to exchange views on strengthening communication and cooperation and also between their border security personnels.

India and China have decades old border dispute and recently faced a two-month long standoff at Doklam trijunction, but relations improved after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Wuhan for informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Later, during visit of Defence Minister of China to India between August 21 to 24, defence ministers of India-China agreed to establish multiple hotlines between their armies for better communication, cooperation, and border management.