'Great progress' made in implementing border pact with India: Chinese army

The Chinese military on Thursday said that "great progress" has been made in implementing the border agreement with India to end the over four-year standoff at eastern Ladakh and termed the recent meeting between the defence ministers of the two sides as positive and constructive.

"We also look forward to harmonious dance between the Chinese dragon and Indian Elephant with concerted steps," Defence Ministry spokesman Sr Col Wu Qian said while addressing the monthly media briefing here.

He said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart Admiral Dong Jun had a positive and constructive meeting last week in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos, on the sidelines of a regional security conclave.

The two sides are implementing the settlement reached between the two counties, he said, answering a question on the progress of the execution of the agreement reached between the two countries last month to end the standoff in eastern Ladakh.

"Now, we are making great progress," he said.

The two ministers agreed to implement the important consensus reached between the top leaders and promote stable relations between the two countries, he added.

Wu said the two militaries should strictly abide by the recent common understandings reached by the two sides to de-escalate tensions at the border areas, make efforts to bring down the tensions and focus on enhancing mutual trust and exchanges between the two countries.

"We hope the two sides can seize the opportunity and build new momentum to make new progress in the military-to-military relations," he said.

On October 21, India and China firmed up an agreement on patrolling and disengagement of troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, in a breakthrough to end the standoff.

At their Kazan meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping endorsed the India-China agreement on patrolling and disengagement along the LAC in eastern Ladakh and issued directions to revive various bilateral dialogue mechanisms, signalling attempts to normalise ties that were hit by a deadly military clash in 2020.