In what was likely the need of the hour, India and China have reportedly reached at a 5-point consensus on disengagement of troops at the LAC and quell the rising border tensions.
The development comes during the meeting of India's foreign minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow under the banner of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
A joint statement issued today said that the foreign ministers agreed that "both sides should take guidance from the series of consensus of the leaders on developing India-China relations, including not allowing differences to become disputes".
The statement further says that both sides have agreed that "the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side", and "therefore…the border troops of both sides should continue their dialogue, quickly disengage, maintain proper distance and ease tensions".
Both the Ministers reached at a consensus that both sides "shall abide by all the existing agreements and protocols on China-India boundary affairs, maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas and avoid any action that could escalate matters."
Highlighting the importance of confidence-building measures, both the sides agreed to expedite such measures as the situation "eases" in order to maintain peace and tranquility on the frontier.
They also agreed that both the countries would continue to engage through the Special Representatives mechanism, and also that meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on border affairs will continue."
The 5-point agreement comes in the backdrop of escalating tensions between the two countries with both China and India amassing troops along LAC. The other day, India had rubbished allegations made by China that the former had crossed over to the Chinese side of the LAC and fired warning shots.
In an interview with The Indian Express two days before leaving for Moscow, S Jaishankar had termed the Indo-China tensions "very serious". He had also highlighted the importance of peace at the border for a country to progress.