Complete Ladakh disengagement for normal ties: Doval to Wang

During the meeting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, national security adviser Ajit Doval stressed the need for complete disengagement on Line of Actual Control (LAC) to allow the bilateral relationship to take its natural course, according to people familiar with the development. Making the point that continuation of the present situation is not in the mutual interest, Doval said that restoration of peace and tranquillity will help build mutual trust and create enabling environment for progress in relations, people cited above said.

Wang Yi met Doval ahead of his scheduled meeting with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. India’s top security official also highlighted the need to continue positive interactions at diplomatic and military levels for the restoration of peace and tranquillity, a prerequisite for the normalisation of ties.

Doval asked Wang to ensure that the actions by China do not violate the spirit of equal and mutual security. During an hour-long meeting, he called for working in the same direction and resolve outstanding issues as quickly as possible.

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The Chinese side invited NSA to visit China to take forward the mandate of special representatives working on the India-China boundary resolutions. Wang and Doval are special representatives for China and India, respectively. The national security adviser responded positively to the invitation and stated that he can visit only after immediate issues are resolved successfully.

Soon after the meeting, Wang went to meet Jaishankar for wide-ranging talks at Hyderabad House. The Chinese foreign minister is in Delhi for the highest-level meeting yet after the ties were strained following the military standoff at LAC nearly two years ago.