BEIJING, Jan. 9 -- China on Saturday confirmed a Chinese soldier who went astray on Friday in the China-India border areas was found by India and called for an immediate return of the soldier.

Due to darkness and complicated geography, a soldier of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) frontier defense force went astray in the China-India border early Friday morning, and the PLA frontier defense force notified the Indian side of the information the first time, hoping the Indian side could assist in search and rescue of the lost Chinese soldier.

Nearly two hours later, the response from the Indian side came, confirming that the missing soldier had been found and would be returned to the Chinese side after receiving instructions from the superior authority.

Certain Indian media’s hyping of the incident didn’t square with the facts.

The Indian side should strictly adhere to relevant agreements reached by the two countries and waste no time to return the lost soldier to the Chinese side, so as to add positive factors for de-escalating the border tensions between the two countries and jointly maintaining peace and tranquility in the China-India border areas.