India seeks permanent solution to border dispute with China

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NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told his Chinese counterpart that the two countries should seek a “permanent solution” to their decades-old border dispute, in a new push for a conclusive outcome.

Singh met China’s Dong Jun on the sidelines of the meeting of the defence ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Qingdao on Thursday and stressed on solving issues between the countries through a structured roadmap, India’s defence ministry said in a statement on Friday,

“Singh also stressed on border management and to have a permanent solution of border demarcation by rejuvenating the established mechanism on the issue,” the statement said, referring to the border talks process between the Asian giants.

New Delhi’s stress on a permanent solution is considered significant as India has in the past generally used phrases such as seeking an early resolution to the dispute.

Beijing says the border dispute should not affect the larger relationship and differences should be managed properly until a mutually acceptable solution is found through dialogue.

There was no Chinese defence ministry statement yet on the meeting and its foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on India’s statement.

The world’s two most populous nations – both nuclear powers – share a 3,800 km (2,400 mile), largely undemarcated and disputed border in the Himalayas and have gone to war over it.

Although the frontier has been mostly peaceful in recent decades, a deadly clash between their troops in 2020 resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers.

The clash led to a four-year military standoff with both armies deploying tens of thousands of troops in the mountains until they reached a pact in October to step back, leading to a thaw in ties.

During his meeting with Dong, Singh also called for bridging the trust deficit created after the 2020 standoff, New Delhi said.

The defence ministers agreed to continue consultations to achieve progress on “disengagement, de-escalation, border management and eventual de-limitation”, the statement added.

Beijing and New Delhi have continued to mend ties and said this month that they have agreed to expedite the resumption of direct air services, which were suspended after the 2020 clash, and step up communication.

SCO is a 10-nation Eurasian security and political grouping whose members include China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and Iran. Their defence ministers’ meeting was held as a precursor to the annual summit of its leaders set for the autumn.

The SCO defence ministers were unable to adopt a joint statement at the end of their meeting due to a lack of consensus on referring to “terrorism”, India said on Thursday.

(Writing by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by YP Rajesh and Kim Coghill)