India, China agree on patrolling deal at disputed border

The governments of India and China have agreed to a patrolling arrangement along the disputed border area in the Himayalas, New Delhi's top diplomat said on Monday.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that a border area pact could lead to disengagement and resolution of tensions that sparked a deadly confrontation in 2020.

Series of talks resulted in border area pact

Misri said diplomatic and military negotiators from the two countries have held rounds of talks over the past few weeks.

The dialogue, Misri said, resulted in consensus on "patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had risen in these areas in 2020."

Misri did not provide any further details on what the patrolling arrangements would entail.

News of the pact comes ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia for the BRICS summit where he could hold sideline talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Border region tensions

Troops from both sides have adhered to long-standing protocols to avoid the use of firearms along the frontier, known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The LAC separates Chinese and Indian-held territories from Ladakh in the west to Arunachal Pradesh.

However, in 2020, clashes involving troops from both sides resulted in the deaths of at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers.

Ties between the nuclear-armed neighbors have been strained since the clashes along the largely undemarcated frontier.

kb/wmr (AFP, Reuters)