With the objective of restoring peace at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar urged his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to work for an early resolution and hold talks soon.

The two ministers met at the sidelines of the ongoing Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on Thursday and Jaishankar also asked the Chinese to avoid viewing its ties with India through the lens of a third country.

The two ministers reviewed the current situation at the LAC in eastern Ladakh and agreed that military and diplomatic officials of both sides should meet again and discuss resolving the remaining issues at the earliest.

The 12th round of Corps Commander level talks were held on July 30 to find mutually agreed process of withdraw troops from the flashpoints at the LAC.  The next round is likely to take place soon, sources said here on Friday. On the meeting between Jaishankar and Wang Yi, the former told the latter India had never subscribed to any “clash of civilisations theory” and that Asian solidarity would depend on the example set by India-China relations, the external affairs ministry(MEA)said here on Friday.

He also said the two sides need to establish a relationship based on “mutual respect” for which it was necessary that China avoid viewing the ties with India from the perspective of its relations with third countries, it said.

On Twitter, Jaishankar said: “It is also essential that China does not view its relations with India through the lens of a third country.” While Jaishankar mentioned “a third country”, the statement by the  MEA talked about “third countries”. It is learnt that the two sides also exchanged views on developments in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s takeover of the country.

The MEA in its statement said the two ministers discussed the situation at the LAC and took stock of the global developments. Jaishankar underlined that it was necessary to ensure progress in the resolution of remaining issues so as to restore peace and tranquillity along the LAC.  He also said such an atmosphere in the border areas has been an essential basis for progress in the bilateral relations.

“In this regard, the ministers agreed that military and diplomatic officials of the two sides should meet again and continue their discussions to resolve the remaining issues at the earliest,” the MEA said.

“In this context, the external affairs minister recalled that Foreign Minister Wang Yi had in their last meeting noted that the bilateral relations were at low ebb,” it said.

The MEA said both sides in the previous meeting had agreed that a prolongation of the existing situation was not in the interest of either side as it was impacting the relationship in a negative manner.

Jaishankar noted that since their last meeting on July 14, the two sides had made some progress in the resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC in eastern Ladakh and had completed the disengagement in Gogra area.  However, there were still some outstanding issues that needed to be resolved, the statement said.

Wang and Jaishankar had held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of another conclave of the SCO in Dushanbe on July 14. In the meeting, Jaishankar told Wang that any unilateral change in the status quo along the LAC was “not acceptable” to India and that the overall ties can only develop after full restoration of peace and tranquillity in eastern Ladakh.

Giving details about the latest meeting, the external affairs ministry said the two ministers also exchanged views on the recent global developments.

Jaishankar conveyed that India had never subscribed to any clash of civilisations theory. He said India and China had to deal with each other on merits and establish a relationship based on mutual respect.

“For this, it was necessary that China avoid viewing our bilateral relations from the perspective of its relations with third countries. Asian solidarity would depend on the example set by India-China relations,” the statement said.