NEW DELHI: With over 1,20,000 Chinese soldiers with heavy weapon systems still amassed along the long frontier with India, defence minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday told his Chinese counterpart Admiral Dong Jun that it is now crucial to move forward from the recent troop disengagement in eastern Ladakh to de-escalation to build greater trust and confidence between the two countries. "We need to focus on cooperation rather than conflict," Singh said at the delegation-level meeting with the Chinese defence minister on the sidelines of the Asean defence ministers' meeting-plus in Vientiane. Describing the 50-minute bilateral meeting as "extremely productive", defence minister Rajnath Singh said the two sides "agreed to work together towards a roadmap for rebuilding mutual trust and understanding".
"Amicable relations" between India and China, the two most populated nations in the world and major engines of global growth, would have "positive implications" for global peace and prosperity as well as help stabilise the world economy, he said. The meeting comes after Indian and Chinese troops disengaged at the remaining face-off sites at Depsang and Demchok in eastern Ladakh last month and then resumed "coordinated" patrolling in the two areas. External affairs minister S Jaishankar had also held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the margins of G20 summit in Brazil two days ago, where the next steps towards normalising the overall bilateral relations, like resumption o.