IANS NEW DELHI INDIA and China on Tuesday signed a border mechanism framework to maintain peace on the disputed boundaries between the two countries.

The framework was signed at the end of the 15th round of boundary talks between special representatives of the two countries.

It will facilitate real-time contact between the foreign office of the two countries in case of intrusions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) — the de facto India-China border.

“The two sides agree to establish a working mechanism for consultation and coordination to deal with important border affairs related to maintaining peace and tranquility in the India- China border areas,” according to the agreement.

Chinese state councillor Dai Bingguo and India’s national security adviser Shivshankar Menon, special representatives for boundary talks, began the two-day negotiations in New Delhi on Monday.

The talks, aimed at firming up the framework for delineating the border on the map, were scheduled for November last year. But these were postponed after India refused to yield to Chinese objections to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama’s participation in a global Buddhist conclave in New Delhi.

Recently, Menon described the boundary question as a “difficult issue” and clarified that the two sides were “in the second stage of the threestage process of agreeing to principles, a framework and finally a boundary line”.