MOSCOW, Sept. 5 (CGTN) - Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe on Friday met with his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh and urged the Indian side to jointly ease tensions and safeguard the peace and stability of the China-Indian border.
Chinese and Indian soldiers recently engaged in the most serious border clashes since they fought a war in 1962, leaving casualties on both sides. China blamed India for the incidents, calling the actions by Indian border troops "infringing and provocative."
Wei said both India and China should abide by the consensus reached by their leaders and solve problems via dialogue and consultation, urging India to strengthen management and control of its frontline troops, and not make provocations or deliberately hype and spread negative information.
In the meeting with Singh, Wei also stressed China's capability of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, saying not an inch of China's territory should be lost.
Wei called on both sides to work jointly to ease tensions in order to safeguard the peace and stability in the border areas.
Singh, for his part, noted the importance of a peaceful border relation with China, saying both sides should keep the channels of military and diplomatic dialogue open.
He told his Chinese counterpart that India agrees to work toward full disengagement of frontline forces as soon as possible and push the relations between the two countries and armies back on track.
The two senior officials were meeting on the sidelines of an ministerial meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Moscow. It was also the first and highest level of face-to-face talks since the June 15 clash in the Galwan river valley.
During an online event organized by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar suggested reconciliation is the top priority on the agenda.
"The solution to the current India-China crisis has to be found in the domain of diplomacy," he said, hoping to solve the dispute through dialogue.
