Willing to work with India on border issue, says Chinese military

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Last updated on: March 27, 2025 21:40 IST

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The Chinese military on Thursday said it is willing to work with its Indian counterpart to implement a fair and just solution to the border issue besides sound and stable defence ties.

IMAGE: ITBP women personnel patrolling near the border of China in Arunachal Pradesh on the occasion of International Women's Day, March 8, 2025. Photograph: ANI Photo

A spokesman for China's National Defence, Sr. Col Wu Qian, made the remarks at a media briefing in Beijing while replying to a question about the disengagement and the follow-up process at the eastern Ladakh part of the Line of Actual Control.

"The Chinese military is willing to work together with our Indian counterparts to implement a fair and just solution on the border issue, Wu told reporters.

Wu said the Chinese military would also like to "contribute our wisdom and strength to the beautiful vision of a shared dance between the dragon and elephant and a sound and stable military-to-military relationship."

The dragon elephant dance has become a constant theme of China of late as the two countries ended the over four-year freeze of relations after reaching agreement over the disengagement process in eastern Ladakh in October last.

This was followed by a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia last year and a number of high-level meetings to normalise relations.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in his annual press conference on March 7, said cooperative pas de deux, a ballet between the dragon and the elephant is the only right choice for both sides.

On March 17, the Chinese foreign ministry reiterated the same while welcoming Modi's remarks on the Sino-Indian ties favouring dialogue over discord.

"China appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent positive statements on China-India relations," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a media briefing while responding to a question about Modi's remarks in conversation with American podcaster Lex Fridman.

On Tuesday, India and China held a fresh edition of diplomatic talks in Beijing focusing on ensuring effective border management and early resumption of cross-border cooperation and exchanges, including on trans-border rivers and Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra.

In the meeting of WMCC (Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination) on China-India Border Affairs, the two sides explored various measures and proposals to give effect to the decisions taken during talks between NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Special Representatives dialogue in December.

On Wednesday, Gourangalal Das, joint secretary (East Asia) in the ministry of external affairs, who led the Indian delegation at the WMCC meeting met Liu Jinsong, the director general at the Chinese foreign ministry's Department of Asian Affairs, during which they explored ways to rebuild ties and agreed to initiate efforts to promote people-to-people exchanges, including arrangements for resumption of direct flights and resume Kailash Manasarovar Yatra this year.

In the meeting, the two sides also discussed the resumption of dialogue mechanisms in a "step-by-step" manner to utilise them to address each other's priority areas of interest and concern and move the relations to a "more stable and predictable path", the ministry of external affairs said in a press release.

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