Pact with India to end standoff being implemented effectively, says China

China's Defence Ministry on Thursday said that the Chinese and Indian militaries are "comprehensively and effectively" implementing the agreement to end the standoff at eastern Ladakh and "steady progress" has been made.

Chinese Defence Spokesperson Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang made the remarks during a media briefing here while answering a question on the December 18 Special Representatives talks.

"At present, the Chinese and Indian militaries are comprehensively and effectively implementing the border-related solutions reached between the two sides, and steady progress has been made," he said.

He said that in recent times, based on the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, China and India have maintained close communication on the border situation through diplomatic and military channels and achieved great progress.

Following the October 21 agreement between India and China, Special Representatives for border question NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met here and held a comprehensive dialogue on the implementation of the agreement and restoration of the relations which were frozen since the standoff began in April 2020.

In October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Kazan, Russia, on the sidelines of the Brics summit and approved the Oct 21 agreement.

Col Zhang said that bringing China-India relations back on the right track serves the fundamental interests of the two countries and the two peoples.

"The Chinese military is ready to make concerted efforts with the Indian side to faithfully implement the important consensus of the two leaders, conduct more exchanges and interactions, and promote China-India mil-to-mil relationship, in a bid to jointly safeguard lasting peace and tranquillity in the border areas," he added.