India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced today that India and China have reached an agreement on disengagement and border control along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). According to India’s News18 Oct. 22 Misri made the announcement during a special briefing at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told New Delhi-based NDTV that “what the Foreign Secretary has said, I can also say—we have reached an agreement. We can say that disengagements with China have been completed. There are areas which for various reasons after 2020 have been blocked by both sides. The understanding to my knowledge is that we will be able to do patrolling now like in 2020. It is a good and a positive development.”
The agreement was announced prior to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s departure for Russia today where he will be attending the Oct. 22-24 BRICS summit in Kazan. This has led to speculation that the agreement could mean that Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold a face-to-face meeting; however, as yet, there is no confirmation of such a meeting. China hasn’t responded to requests for comments, according to Bloomberg. When Press Trust of India asked Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian today “Is the meeting between Mr. Xi and Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi [is] going to take place?” Lin responded simply: “We will keep you posted if anything comes up.”
