India and China, on Friday, agreed to resolve a dispute over their shared border in Ladakh through diplomatic channels, the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
This came a day before the top generals of the 2 countries are to meet near the site of the border standoff to try and find a way to de-escalate the situation.
Indian officials said both sides would first focus on getting both the Indian army and the People’s Liberation Army to pull back additional troops and equipment deployed in the area.
Soldiers from both sides have been camped out in the Galwan Valley in the high-altitude Ladakh region, accusing each other of trespassing over the disputed border, the trigger of a brief but bloody war in 1962.
The statement said that senior officials of both countries held a video conference and agreed that, “the two sides should handle their differences through peaceful discussion.”
In Beijing, spokesman of China’s foreign affairs ministry, Geng Shuang, told reporters that the overall situation at the India-China border is currently “stable and controllable.” He said, “both sides are working to properly resolve relevant issues.”
