The Chinese and Indian militaries have had talks on the management of the border the countries share, and both agreed to use existing mechanisms to resolve any “ground issues”, the neighbours said on Wednesday.

New Delhi and Beijing had reached a milestone pact last year on lowering military tensions on their Himalayan border, which escalated after a military clash in 2020 in which 20 soldiers from India and four from China were killed.

Since the pact in 2024, the two countries have taken steps to improve relations, including a resumption of direct flights and enhanced investment and trade flows.

China’s defence ministry said that in the latest round of high-level military talks held on the Indian side of a meeting point on Saturday, the neighbours agreed to continue their dialogue through military and diplomatic channels.

“Both sides agreed to continue to use existing mechanisms to resolve any ground issues along the border to maintain stability,” India’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China in August for the first time in seven years to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation regional security bloc.

Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that India and China were development partners, not rivals, and discussed ways to strengthen trade ties amid global tariff uncertainty.