India, China army HQ, field commanders to meet regularly

Days after a stand-off with intruding Chinese troops along the border in Ladakh region, India and China have agreed to hold regular interaction between their army headquarters and field commands among other major measures to aid in "timely and effective management of situations that may arise on the border".

Both sides also agreed to have more meeting points along the over 4,000-km boundary and more telecommunication linkages between their forward posts during a meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs that was held in New Delhi on Oct 16-17.

Both sides "discussed various issues pertaining to the maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas following the successful termination of the recent standoff in the Western Sector", a ministry of external affairs statement said Friday.

The two sides held talks in "frank and constructive manner" and arrived at consensus "on several additional confidence building measures and agreed to implement them at the earliest".

"Both sides again emphasized the importance of this mechanism and agreed that it had become one of the primary mechanisms for management of boundary affairs," it said.The Indian delegation was led by Pradeep Kumar Rawat, joint secretary (East Asia), and comprised representatives of the ministries of external affairs, defence and home affairs as well as members of the Indian Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police.

The Chinese delegation was led by Ouyang Yujing, director general, department of Boundary and Oceanic Affairs, in the ministry of foreign affairs and comprised representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs and national defence.

Both sides agreed to hold the next meeting of the Working Mechanism at a mutually convenient time.