China, India agreed to implement important consensus reached by leaders: Chinese envoy on LAC standoff

Amid border standoff along the LAC, China and India have agreed to implement the important consensus reached by leaders and not turn "differences" into "disputes", a top Chinese official said on Monday.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said "border areas situation" was discussed during the meeting between Chinese and Indian military officials on June 6 and the countries have maintained close communication on resolving border issues through diplomatic and military channels, Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong tweeted. 

Weidong said Hua has stressed that "China and India agreed to implement the important consensus reached by leaders, not to turn differences into disputes, work together to maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas, so as to create a favourable atmosphere for stable development of bilateral relations."

"Hua said that the overall situation in the border areas is generally stable and under control, China and India have the capacity & willingness to properly solve relevant issues through negotiation & consultation," the ambassador said in another tweet. 

The remarks by Chunying came a day after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi said that India and China have agreed to continue military and diplomatic talks to "peacefully" resolve the current border standoff in accordance with bilateral agreements.

Earlier on June 6, the Indian delegation led by Lt General Harinder Singh, the general officer commanding of Leh-based 14 Corps, and Commander of the Tibet Military District Maj Gen Liu Lin held the extensive meeting in Maldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh that lasted for hours. 

The high-level military dialogue could not produce any tangible results in ending the confrontation in eastern Ladakh and the two armies continue to be in a standoff. 

Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a bitter face-off in several areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh for nearly a month. 

The two armies have already held at least 10 rounds of negotiations between local commanders as well as major general-rank officials but failed to make any breakthrough. 

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long LAC and the two nuclear-armed neighbours established the highest level of mechanism to deal with border disputes following 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff, and the second informal meeting was held last year in the coastal town of Mahabalipuram, almost 50 kilometres south of Chennai.