India, China troops meet to resolve standoff

Local commanders of the Indian and Chinese Armies held two flag meetings in Ladakh on Tuesday to resolve a crisis at the border that had led to a standoff between the troops last week.

The flag meetings, held at Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) and Chusul, went on for almost two hours. “Certain patrolling issues were discussed and both sides agreed to maintain peace,” said a source. The details of the crisis and the resolution formula, however, remain sketchy.

The standoff began on Friday but flared up on Saturday near the India-China de-facto boundary in Ladakh, after Indian troops demolished a makeshift hut set up by the Chinese. There are unconfirmed reports that cameras were kept inside the hut in violation of agreed patrolling norms.

As 90 Chinese soldiers took position following the demolition, India too send in reinforcement. Both sides carried out a standard drill in which banners are shown at each other asking troops to go back to their respective territory.

The troops stepped back by a few kilometres, but remained in the same area waiting for the flag meeting to resolve the crisis.

The area in eastern Ladakh where the confrontation happened is a part of the strategically important Depsang bulge and close to DBO — an old advanced landing ground reactivated by the Indian Air Force in 2008. Only last month, a border personnel meeting hut was made operational at DBO for meetings between local Army commanders.

A spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing, however, denied any standoff with the Indian troops.

“As far as I know there is no such standoff in the border area. Chinese border troops have been performing their duties on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC),” said Hong Lei on Monday.

This is a consistent position maintained by China since the first Depsang standoff during the visit of Premier Li Keqiang in 2013 to India, asserting that the PLA troops are carrying out activities on their side of the border.