New Delhi: Indian and Chinese officials continue to remain engaged through the established military and diplomatic channels to address the current situation in the India-China border areas, the Indian Army said on Saturday.

The statement came in the midst of a scheduled high-level military dialogue between the two sides to resolve the current border standoff in eastern Ladakh.

On Friday, the two countries held diplomatic talks during which they agreed to handle their “differences” through peaceful discussions while respecting each other’s sensitivities and concerns.

In the talks, the two sides also agreed to settle differences in accordance with guidance provided by leadership of two countries, in a reference to decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at an informal summit in Chinese city of Wuhan in 2018.

“Indian and Chinese officials continue to remain engaged through the established military and diplomatic channels to address the current situation in the India-China border areas,” the Indian Army said in a statement.

“At this stage therefore any speculative and unsubstantiated reporting about these engagements would not be helpful and the media is advised to refrain from such reporting,” it said without providing any details about the high-level dialogue scheduled for this morning.

The two armies have already held 12 rounds of talks between their local commanders and three rounds of discussions at the level of major general-rank officials. But the talks did not produce any tangible outcome, sources said.

Press Trust of India