China, India reach ‘resolution’ on contested border issues

China said Tuesday it had reached a "resolution" with India over issues related to their disputed border, after New Delhi said it had struck a deal with Beijing for military patrols along the frontier.

"Recently, China and India have maintained close communication through diplomatic and military channels on issues relating to the China-India border. Currently, the two sides have reached a resolution on the relevant issues," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular briefing.

China and India, the world's two most populous nations, are intense rivals and have regularly accused each other of trying to seize territory along their unofficial divide, a narrow strip of land known as the Line of Actual Control.

After a border skirmish in 2020 that killed at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese ones, both sides pulled back tens of thousands of troops and agreed not to send patrols into the Line of Actual Control.

Lin said Tuesday that Beijing "gives its positive approval" to the deal.

"In the next stage, we will work with India to properly implement that resolution," he said.

Lin did not say whether the deal paved the way for an official meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the BRICS summit in Russia this week.

Source: AFP