China, India Agree to Stop Sending Troops to Himalayan Border

2/2 © Bloomberg. Indian Army vehicles drive on a road near Chang La high mountain pass in northern India's Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir state near the border with China on June 17, 2020. Photographer: STR/AFP via Getty Images 2/2

(Bloomberg) -- China and India have agreed to stop sending troops to the front line of their disputed Himalayan border as the powerful neighbors bid to de-escalate tensions.

The two governments will refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground and avoid any actions that may cause complications, they said in statements Tuesday, a day after holding a commander-level meeting. The talks produced a “candid and in-depth exchanges of views” on stabilizing the situation along the border, they said.

The latest move to back down from open confrontation on the disputed frontier comes after the nations started to increase their troop strength in May along the 3,488-kilometer (2,167-mile) border known as the Line of Actual Control.

The military standoff, in which gunshots were fired for the first time since 1975, triggered multiple rounds of negotiations between commanders and diplomats, with Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, agreeing this month that “the current situation in the border area is not in the interests of both sides.”

In Monday’s meeting, the nations also agreed to implement consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, strengthen communication on the ground, and avoid misunderstandings and misjudgments. They will hold the seventh round of military commander-level meeting as soon as possible, they said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.