India and China today admitted to intrusion by Chinese herdsmen into Ladakh last week but both the sides sought to play it down saying the issue was resolved amicably through a flag meeting.
"The issue was properly resolved through the border personnel meeting," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in its response to an e-mail query from PTI in Beijing on reports of Chinese herdsmen intruding into Demchok sector along the Line of Actual Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
"Maintaining peace and tranquility in the China-India border areas is an important consensus and a common aspiration of the two sides. China will work with India to safeguard the peace and tranquility in the border area between the two countries," it said.
In New Delhi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, responding to the reports of intrusion, said, "The Chinese went back after the flag meeting."
The incident is reported to have taken place on July 25 at the Charding Nilu Nullah Junction in the Demchok sector along the LAC.
An Indian patrolling team was dispatched to the spot and later a team of China's People's Liberation Army also reached there.
The reports suggested that a flag meeting between the commanders from both sides finally resulted in the Chinese agreeing to move back the herdsmen a day after.
In the context of border disputes, the Chinese Foreign Ministry also cited President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil, on sidelines of the BRICS Summit this month, during which the two leaders agreed to manage and handle differences in a positive and forward-looking manner.
"The two sides agreed to manage and handle differences in a positive and forward-looking manner, strengthen mutual trust, jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border and not let the boundary question become an obstacle to development of relations between the two countries," the ministry said of the meeting between the two leaders.
