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The Chinese military on Thursday said it is willing to work with its Indian counterpart to implement a fair and just solution to the border issue besides sound and stable defence ties. A spokesman for China’s National Defence, Sr Col Wu Qian, made the remarks at a media briefing here while replying to a question about the disengagement and the follow-up process at the eastern Ladakh part of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
“The Chinese military is willing to work together with our Indian counterparts to implement a fair and just solution on the border issue,” Qian told reporters.
Qian said the Chinese military would also like to “contribute our wisdom and strength to the beautiful vision of a shared dance between the dragon and elephant and a sound and stable military-to-military relationship.”
The dragon elephant dance has become a constant theme of China of late as the two countries ended the over four-year freeze of relations after reaching agreement over the disengagement process in eastern Ladakh in October last.
This was followed by a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia last year and a number of high-level meetings to normalise relations.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in his annual press conference on 7 March said that “cooperative pas de deux”, a ballet between the dragon and the elephant is the “only right choice for both sides.”
On 17 March, the Chinese foreign ministry reiterated the same while welcoming Modi’s remarks on the Sino-Indian ties, favouring dialogue over discord.
“China appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent positive statements on China-India relations,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a media briefing while responding to a question about Modi’s remarks in conversation with American podcaster Lex Fridman.
On Tuesday, India and China held a fresh edition of diplomatic talks in Beijing, focusing on ensuring effective border management and early resumption of cross-border cooperation and exchanges, including on trans-border rivers and the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra.
In the meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination (WMCC) on China-India Border Affairs, the two sides explored various measures and proposals to give effect to the decisions taken during talks between NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the special representatives dialogue in December.
On Wednesday, External Affairs Ministry’s East Asia Joint Secretary Gourangalal Das, who led the Indian delegation at the WMCC meeting met Liu Jinsong, the director general at the Chinese foreign ministry’s Asian Affairs Department, during which they explored ways to rebuild ties and agreed to initiate efforts to promote people-to-people exchanges, including arrangements for resumption of direct flights and resume the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra this year.
In the meeting, the two sides also discussed the resumption of dialogue mechanisms in a “step-by-step” manner to utilise them to address each other’s priority areas of interest and concern and move the relations to a “more stable and predictable path,” the External Affairs Ministry said in a press release.
