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India on Friday said it will work with China on steps to take forward the understanding reached by the Special Representatives of the two sides on cross-border cooperation and exchanges, including the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and border trade.

- Rezaul H Laskar

NEW DELHI:

The Special Representatives on the border issue - India's National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and China's foreign minister Wang Yi - met in Beijing on Wednesday for their first formal talks in nearly five years, following an understanding reached by the two sides on October 21 on the disengagement of front-line forces in Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

During these talks, Doval and Wang provided "positive directions for cross-border cooperation and exchanges including resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, data sharing on trans-border rivers and border trade", an Indian readout on the meeting said.

When external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was asked at a regular media briefing to provide details on this development, he said: "It means that the discussions have gone into the positive direction, and thereafter, whatever else is required will be done to take these cross-border exchanges forward."

The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra has not been held since 2020, when the sudden massing of troops by China in Ladakh sector of the LAC triggered a military standoff that saw both sides deploying close to 60,000 troops each in the region. A brutal clash at Galwan Valley in June 2020, which killed 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops, took bilateral relations to their lowest point in six decades.