India and China agree to respect LAC, complete ongoing disengagement

MEA press statement says agreement was reached between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi

India and China on Monday agreed that both sides “should strictly respect and observe the LAC” and “should not take any unilateral action to alter the status-quo".

The two sides also agreed to complete the ongoing disengagement process along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) “expeditiously, so as to ensure “a phased and stepwise de-escalation” in their border areas.

After the agreement, it remains to be seen if Chinese troops would return to their posts behind the LAC.

There have been tensions in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley between Indian and Chinese troops since May. In violent clashes between the two sides on June