India, China Foreign Ministers Meet For Key Talks In Moscow, Russia Amid Tension On Border

S Jaishankar, the external affairs minister of India had a meeting on the evening of September 10 with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. The meeting was an attempt to defuse tension after a spike in hostilities along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border between the two nations. The meeting, which went on for nearly two-and-half hours, was held on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet in Moscow. Earlier, the ministers met at a Russia-India-China lunch. There was no word from the external affairs ministry on the bilateral meeting, which was seen as crucial for ending the impasse in the disengagement and de-escalation process along the LAC. The Jaishankar-Wang talks took place against the backdrop of a fresh stand-off at the southern bank of Pangong Tso on September 7. Jaishankar last week described the situation in eastern Ladakh as "very serious" and said it calls for "very, very deep conversation" between the two sides at a political level. There have been multiple rounds of talks at diplomatic and military levels. Latest incident took place three days after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe met on the sidelines of another SCO meet in Moscow on September 4. Rajnath Singh reportedly told Wei Fenghe that attempts by Chinese troops to unilaterally alter status quo along the LAC was in violation of bilateral agreements. Singh also added that Beijing should work with New Delhi for complete disengagement from all friction areas including Pangong Tso.