The foreign ministers of China and India met for talks on Thursday in a bid to defuse the military stand-off along their disputed Himalayan border, reported the Financial Times.
S. Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, spoke with Wang Yi, his Chinese counterpart, in Moscow just days after the countries accused each other of firing the first shots along the frontier in 45 years.
This week’s clashes were the latest sign of a breakdown of the longstanding, mutually agreed border management protocols that barred either side from using firearms as they patrolled the contested border zone in Ladakh’s inhospitable terrain.
“The situation on the border in Ladakh is on a knife’s edge and it could easily escalate into a military conflict,” said defence analyst Sushant Singh, a former army officer. “If these talks fail, the only option is for the top two leaders to talk, or the conflict to escalate.”