India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and discussed early resolution of the military standoff at remaining points along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh to stabilise and rebuild bilateral relations.

The two leaders met in Vientiane, Laos on the sidelines of a foreign ministers’ meetings linked to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. This was their second meeting in July. The two leaders had met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on July 4.

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“The meeting [on Thursday] gave the two ministers an opportunity to review the situation since their last meeting at Astana on 4 July 2024,” India’s external affairs ministry said in a press statement.

Border tensions between India and China have increased since June 2020 when a violent face-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers took place in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley. It had led to the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers. Beijing had said that the clash left four of its soldiers dead.

At Thursday’s meeting, both sides agreed on the need to work with purpose and urgency to complete full disengagement at the earliest, the ministry said.

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“Peace and tranquillity on the borders and respect for LAC are essential for normalcy in bilateral relations,” it said. “Both sides must fully abide by relevant bilateral agreements, protocols, and understandings reached between the two governments in the past.”

Since the Galwan clashes, China and India have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks to resolve the border standoff. The latest talks were held in February when both countries agreed to maintain “peace and tranquillity” along the Line of Actual Control.

On Thursday, the ministry said that both sides will hold an early meeting of the Working Mechanism on Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs to take the discussions on resolving border standoff forward.