India says the Line of Actual Control must be respected and observed by China as this is the basis of peace and tranquility in the border areas

With the Chinese soldiers pulling back around 1.5 km from the Galwan Valley, the site of the June 15 deadly face-off between troops of India and China, and Gogra and Hot Springs—the two another contentious areas, witnessing slow disengagement, India and China are expected to hold the next round of military and diplomatic level talks to plan out another phase of de-escalation of tension at the India-China border.

At the weekly media briefing on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said a meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on border affairs between India and China is expected to take place “soon”.

However, several media reports have maintained that WMCC meet will take place on Friday.

In 2012, the WMCC was set up to address tensions between India and China along the LAC. At this diplomatic level talks, joint secretary (East Asia) Naveen Srivastava will represent India, while Chinese side will be represented by Wu Jianghao, director general in the Chinese foreign ministry.

On June 24, the two sides had held their last WMCC meet wherein they had decided to implement the disengagement and de-escalation process agreed on by senior military commanders.

India’s stand is that the LAC must be respected and observed as this is the basis of peace and tranquility in the border areas. “Neither side should take unilateral action to alter it(the LAC),” Anurag Srivastava said, adding that resolution of differences should be done through dialogue.

He also reiterated that Chinese claims to the Galwan Valley areas are exaggerated and untenable.