India and China on Monday agreed to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra this summer, restore direct flights and ease visa restrictions after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong in Beijing.

The two sides also agreed to resume dialogue about cooperation on trans-border rivers and about sharing hydrological data, which China has withheld for several years.

The announcement on hydrological data comes amid concerns in New Delhi about China constructing a hydropower project on the Brahmaputra river in South Tibet, The Hindu reported.

During the meeting between the Indian foreign secretary and the Chinese vice foreign minister, the two sides also “agreed to take appropriate measures to further promote and facilitate people-to-people exchanges, including media and think-tank interactions”.

While the Indian foreign ministry’s statement did not directly refer to the situation along the border between the two countries, it said: “The two sides took stock of the extant mechanisms for functional exchanges. It was agreed to resume these dialogues step by step and to utilise them to address each other’s priority areas of interest and concern.”

Border tensions between India and China escalated in June 2020 when a violent face-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers took place in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control. It led to the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers. Beijing said that the clash left four of its soldiers dead.

Following this, both countries deployed thousands of troops along with heavy artillery in the region.

Since the Galwan clashes, China and India have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks to resolve their border standoff.

In October, the two countries announced that they had reached a patrolling arrangement along the Line of Actual Control, “leading to the disengagement” of the two militaries in eastern Ladakh.

On January 13, Army chief Upendra Dwivedi had said that patrolling and grazing in traditional areas has started in eastern Ladakh’s Demchok and Depsang sub-sectors along the Line of Actual Control between the two countries. He had described the situation at the Line of Actual Control as sensitive but stable

Demchok and Depsang were among the key points of contention during talks held to address border tensions between the two countries.