Bhutan and China will hold the 25th round of bilateral boundary talks.

The bilateral boundary talks will be held after five years.

Bhutan and China will hold the boundary talks amid claims made by China along the MacMohan line in India’s Arunachal Pradesh.

Both the countries agreed to hold the crucial boundary talks in the 10th Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on the Bhutan-China boundary issue that was held in Kunming during April 6-9.

The announcement of holding the 25th round of bilateral boundary talks was made in a joint statement by China and Bhutan on Friday.

The joint statement issued by Bhutan and China said: “The two sides agreed to hold the 25th round of Bhutan-China boundary talks and the 11th EGM as soon as possible at mutually convenient dates.”

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“The two sides agreed to continue to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas pending a final settlement of the boundary issue,” the joint statement further read.

The meeting between Bhutan and China comes at a time when the standoff between India and China along the Ladakh sector has dragged on for nearly a year now.

Bhutan and China have held 24 rounds of talks between 1984 and 2016 to settle their border disputes.

Boundary talks between Bhutan and China began in 1984, and the two sides signed the “Guiding Principles on the Settlement of the Boundary Issues” in 1988 and the “Agreement on Maintenance of Peace and Tranquillity” along border areas in 1998.

“These two agreements form the basis of the boundary negotiation between Bhutan and China,” the joint statement further added.