China has urged India to "stop all provocative acts to ensure that such incidents will not occur again", months after the clashes at the Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh between the two sides left 20 Indian soldiers dead, and said the two sides need to build trust rather than suspicion.
"We urge the Indian side to conduct a thorough investigation, hold the violators accountable, strictly discipline the frontline troops and immediately stop all provocative acts to ensure such incidents will not occur again," Sun Weidong, the Chinese Ambassador to India, said in a magazine titled 'China-India Review' published by the Chinese Embassy.
He said that there are ups and downs in any relationship and China-India ties should move "forward rather than backward".
"In any relationship, there are ups and downs. The recent border issue and unfortunate incident between China and India should not detract from the forward-looking vision ofthe bilateral partnership charted by our two leaders, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Sun said.
He said that the two countries need "peace rather than confrontation".
"China and India need to build trust rather than suspicion. We need to respect and accommodate mutual core interests and major concerns and adhere to the principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs," the envoy wrote.
"China and India need peace rather than confrontation. We should take a long-range view and not allow our differences to become disputes. China and India need to find a fair and reasonable solution to the boundary question which is mutually acceptable. Pending an ultimate settlement, we should renew our pledge to work together to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas," he said.
The statement comes after Indian Ambassador to China, Vikram Misri, today met Major General Ci Guowei, Director of Office of International Military Cooperation of Central Military Commission, China, and briefed him on India's stance on the situation in eastern Ladakh and overall bilateral relations, the Indian Embassy in China said in a tweet.
Earlier this month, India and China held Major General-level talks at Daulat Beg Oldi area to discuss disengagement by the Chinese side along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh sector, said Indian Army sources.
The Chinese are sitting near the Finger 5 and Gogra post in Eastern Ladakh and are refusing to disengage completely from there. India has demanded complete disengagement of the Chinese troops at the earliest.
India has also deployed more than 15,000 troops there along with heavy deployment of armoured regiments to counter any possible Chinese thrust. The Chinese have also come there in with several armoured regiments.
India and China have held five rounds of Lieutenant General-level talks between them for disengagement from the eastern Ladakh sector but not much success has been achieved in that direction.
The two countries have been engaged in a standoff in the Eastern Ladakh sector for the past few weeks.
( With inputs from ANI )