In the last round of talks, both sides discussed modalities for disengagement of troops from all the friction points in eastern Ladakh

India and China have agreed to hold the 10th round of Corps Commander-level talks soon to take forward the de-escalation process in eastern Ladakh, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said on Thursday.

Speaking at the weekly MEA briefing, Srivastava said, "It was said that both sides agreed to follow the important consensus of the leaders of the respective country and maintain the momentum of talks," while referring to the joint statement issued after the ninth round of military talks.

Srivastava said it was also agreed during last week's military talks to soon hold the 10th round of Corps Commander-level dialogue to take forward the de-escalation process.

In the talks, both sides held extensive deliberations on modalities for disengagement of troops from all the friction points in eastern Ladakh where the two militaries have been engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball face-off for nearly nine months.

India has been maintaining that the disengagement process has to start simultaneously at all friction points and no selective approach was acceptable to it.

India and China are locked in border tension since May 2020. Both sides have held several rounds of diplomatic dialogue since then.

Last month, India and China held another round of diplomatic talks under the framework of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on border affairs. However, no concrete outcome emerged from the meeting.

Following the sixth round of military talks, the two sides had announced a slew of decisions including not to send more troops to the frontline, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground and avoid taking any actions that may further complicate matters.

This round was held with a specific agenda of exploring ways to implement a five-point agreement reached between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at a meeting in Moscow on September 10 on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) conclave.