NEW DELHI: After last week's meeting of senior commanders on the LAC stand-off, India and China remain in touch to follow it up with the next round of diplomatic talks. Apart from six rounds of military talks, India and China have also held four meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on Border Affairs between diplomats for disengagement and de-escalation.

Official sources said the WMCC meeting will take place soon, possibly as soon as this week, to take stock of developments since the senior commanders' meeting on September 21. The government believes that frequent meetings are important to ensure that the situation along the LAC in Ladakh doesn't deteriorate any further even as the two sides remain engaged for complete disengagement and de-escalation.

The last military meeting saw the two sides agreeing to strengthen ground communication to avoid any further misunderstandings and misjudgement, stop sending more troops to the front-line, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground, and avoid taking any actions that may complicate the situation.

While there has been no breakthrough in the talks so far, the fact that the two sides managed to issue a joint statement after the September 21 meeting between the senior commanders is seen as a positive development.

That meeting also saw the participation of MEA joint secretary (East Asia) Naveen Srivastava who otherwise leads the Indian delegation in WMCC. Official sources said his participation had been invaluable in providing continuity to the talks with China. Significantly, he was a part of both External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and also Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's delegations when they met their counterparts in Moscow this month.

In the last WMCC meeting on August 20, the two sides had agreed to resolve the outstanding issues in an "expeditious" manner and in accordance with the existing agreements and protocols. They, in fact, also agreed that restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas will be essential for the overall development of bilateral relations.