China, India agree to defuse tensions at disputed Himalayan border

Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Leaders in China and India have reached a five-point agreement in the ongoing Himalayan border dispute that calls for troops to disengage in the contested area.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar announced the brokered deal Thursday after meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Russia.

The agreement came days after the nations' defense ministers arrived in Moscow to start talks toward de-escalating tensions at the border.

Wang and Jaishankar said they had a "frank and constructive" discussion about developments in the border areas, which both nations have disputed for decades.

The agreement stipulates that the border troops will continue dialogue, disengage and maintain proper distance.

The deal follows new tensions in the region this week. There was gunfire at the border on Tuesday, for which the two nations traded blame.

New tensions have grown out of a deadly confrontation between Chinese and Indian troops in the Himalayas in June, which itself was a continuation of decades of dispute.

New Delhi and Beijing have disagreed for decades about precisely where their shared border, which runs through the Himalayas, is located. A 1962 truce established the 2,100-mile Line of Actual Control in Jammu and Kashmir, which is more a general zone separating the countries than a precise border.