India and China have agreed to "expeditious disengagement" of border personnel at Doka La, New Delhi said yesterday, a week before the BRICS summit in China that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend
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India and China have agreed to "expeditious disengagement" of border personnel at Doka La, New Delhi said yesterday, a week before the BRICS summit in China that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend. In a major diplomatic breakthrough, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the two countries had maintained "diplomatic communication" and were able to express their views, concerns and interests.
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Indian Army sources said the process to withdraw troops -India had deployed about 350 Army personnel in the area - from Doka La near Sikkim was underway. Troops of the countries have been locked in a stand-off in Doka La since June 16 after Indian troops stopped the Chinese army from building a road in the disputed area.
The MEA statement did not explicitly say if Chinese and Indian troops have withdrawn from the area but China claimed in a statement yesterday that Indian troops have pulled back. China, however, remained ambiguous about the status of its troops. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing, "Chinese troops on the ground have verified it. China continues to exercise sovereignty. China will make adjustments according to the situation." Asked if the statement means that China has not made any concession, officials in New Delhi said expeditious disengagement implies withdrawal of both parties because a unilateral withdrawal by India would not have needed or required an agreement with China. "In recent weeks, India and China have maintained diplomatic communication in respect of the incident at Dokalam. During these communications, we were able to express our views and convey our concerns and interests.
"On this basis, expeditious disengagement of border personnel at the face-off site in Dokalam has been agreed to and is on-going," the MEA statement said.
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