China has reached consensus with India to de-escalate military tensions in a remote Himalayan border region, at the same time making continued intrusions into Taiwanese airspace this week.

To defuse the months-long hostility, China and India arrived at a five-point consensus that included pledging to follow a series of agreements reached earlier between their state leaders, such as not allowing their bilateral differences to escalate into a dispute.

Details of the latest consensus were spelt out in a statement jointly released by Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi and his counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in Moscow on Thursday following the most high-level talks between the two sides in recent days.

In the statement, the two ministers noted that the current border situation was not in the interest of either side. They agreed that the border troops should continue to hold dialogue while disengaging quickly and keeping a distance from each other.

Both sides should abide by existing bilateral agreements and protocols on border affairs, maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas and avoid any action that could escalate matters, the statement added.

The two countries would continue to communicate through the Special Representative mechanism on the India-China boundary question and to meet under the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China border affairs, so as to work toward new confidence-building measures, according to the statement.

Thursday’s meeting was initiated by Moscow against the backdrop of a spike in clashes along the Line of Actual Control, after both countries amassed more troops in Ladakh. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hosted the pair on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting.

It was understood that Wang and Jaishankar talked for more than two hours. New Delhi’s external affairs minister expressed the need to maintain peace in border areas and rejected allegations that Indian troops had changed the status quo along the LAC.

Jaishankar also conveyed “strong concern” to Wang that the status quo could not be restored unless the Chinese government scrupulously followed all agreements and protocols pertaining to the management of the border areas, Indian media outlet News 18 reported, citing sources.

Indian forces had strengthened front-line deployment to keep an eye on threats from the People’s Liberation Army of China, according to an unnamed senior official of New Delhi who warned of retaliation if the Chinese trespassed into the LAC area.

Meanwhile in Taiwan, the government ministries of national defense and foreign affairs conducted urgent media briefings one after the other on Thursday night, following the invasion of a number of Chinese warplanes into their air defense identification zone for the second day in a row.

Su-30 fighters and Y-8 transport aircraft were among the Chinese planes that entered airspace to the southwest of Taiwan, threatening regional peace, the Ministry of National Defense said.

It said the PLA manoeuvres had triggered antipathy among the people of Taiwan and urged the Communist Party of China not to repeatedly destroy regional stability.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the PLA’s provocative military exercises and called on the international community to address the China threat to the region.

“Today, the PLA has chosen to conduct exercises near Taiwan; tomorrow it may engage in similar threats near other countries,” the ministry said.

Taiwanese Vice President Lai Ching-te also had strong words for Beijing, writing on Twitter: “Don’t cross the line… Taiwan wants peace but we will defend our people.”

The PLA drills posed “a threat to the country and regional peace,” Taiwanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu said in a tweet, calling on the world to “remain alert.”

The approach taken by the government in Taipei could help give the international community the impression that “China is the troublemaker” and remind the United States to safeguard peace across the Taiwan Strait, said Chen I-hsin, an emeritus professor from the Department of Diplomacy and International Relations at Tamkang University on the self-ruled island.

It could also promote the government’s image to Taiwanese people and prompt restraint on Beijing’s part, Chen said.

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