India, China hold fresh round of military talks to ease tensions in Eastern Ladakh

The MEA said the two sides shared their perspectives on the matter in the talks held in a friendly and cordial atmosphere.

New Delhi: The military commanders of India and China recently held yet another round of talks but again failed to reach a consensus on mutual withdrawal of the frontline troops from Depsang and Demchok – the two yet-to-be-resolved face-off points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

India stressed that its relations with China could not be normal without the complete resolution of the four-year-long stand-off along the LAC.

The Indian and Chinese military commanders met at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on Monday. It was the 21^st round of talks between the military commanders after the stand-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had started in eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020.

The latest round of talks between the commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA came more than four months after they held the 20^th round of talks on October 9 and 10 last year.   

The Indian Army’s delegation was led by the commander of its 14 Corps based in Leh, while his counterpart and the chief of the South Xinjiang Military District of China led the delegation of the communist party’s PLA.

“The discussions built on the previous rounds, seeking complete disengagement in the remaining areas along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh as an essential basis for restoration of peace and tranquillity in the India-China border areas,” the Ministry of External Affairs stated in New Delhi. “The two sides shared their perspectives on this in the talks held in a friendly and cordial atmosphere.”

The Chinese PLA made an attempt to change the status quo along the India-China LAC in eastern Ladakh by deploying a large number of troops close to it in April-May 2020. The Indian Army too had to deploy additional troops to resist the Chinese PLA’s move to push the LAC westward. This resulted in a military stand-off, which reached a flashpoint with a violent clash at the Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020.

Though protracted negotiations led to the mutual withdrawal of troops by both the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA from some of the face-off points along the LAC, like Galwan Valley, the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso, Gogra Post and Hot Springs, the stand-off could not be resolved completely so far. The PLA troops deployed in Depsang, well inside the territory of India along the LAC with China, are still continuing to block the Indian Army’s access to Patrolling Points 10, 11, 12, 12A and 13. A face-off is also continuing in Demchok.

The latest meeting between the commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA did not result in any immediate breakthrough for the withdrawal of troops from the remaining face-off points. They, however, agreed to “maintain communication on the way ahead through the relevant military and diplomatic mechanisms”. They also committed to maintaining peace and tranquillity on the ground in the border areas in the interim, according to the press release issued by the MEA in New Delhi.