India rejects China's claim about LAC normalcy, Jaishankar to host Qin Gang

Ahead of a meeting between the foreign ministers of India and China in New Delhi early next month, the diplomats of the two nations met in Beijing on Wednesday and discussed proposals for withdrawal of troops from the remaining face-off points along the western sector of the Line of Actual Control.

New Delhi, however, subtly rejected Beijing’s claim that normalcy had already returned to the LAC.

The diplomats agreed that the senior commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would hold the 18th round of negotiation soon to complete the disengagement of troops and end the 33-month-long stand-off along the disputed boundary between the two nations in eastern Ladakh.

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The 26th meeting within the framework of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC), launched by the two sides in 2012, was held in Beijing just a few days before External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar would host his new counterpart in the government of the communist country, Qin Gang, in New Delhi.

Qin took over as the Chinese Foreign Minister on December 30 last. He is expected to visit New Delhi to attend the meeting of the G20 Foreign Ministers on March 1 and 2.

Jaishankar, who will host the conclave, may have a bilateral meeting with Qin on its sideline.

The meeting of the Indian and Chinese diplomats in Beijing on Wednesday came almost four months after they had held the 25th round of talks virtually within the WMCC framework in October 2022. The two sides reviewed the situation along the LAC in the western sector of the India-China border areas and discussed proposals for disengagement (mutual withdrawal of troops) in the remaining areas in an open and constructive manner, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi after the meeting in Beijing.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Government, however, issued a separate press release in Beijing, claiming that the situation along the LAC had already entered “the stage of normalized control”. New Delhi, however, held fast to its stand that it would acknowledge the return of normalcy along the LAC only when the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA would mutually pull back troops from the remaining face-off points and would also withdraw the additional troops deployed in the depth areas on the respective side. The press release issued by the MEA in New Delhi noted that the withdrawal of troops from the remaining face-off points would help in restoration of peace and tranquillity along the LAC in western sector and create conditions for restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations.

Beijing in April-May 2020 made an aggressive move to unilaterally change the status quo along the LAC – the de facto boundary between China and India – in eastern Ladakh, by deploying a large number of troops of the Chinese PLA. 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.

Though protracted negotiations led to mutual withdrawal of troops by both the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA from some of the face-off points along the LAC, the stand-off could not be resolved completely so far. Beijing has of late been claiming that the mutual withdrawal of troops by the Chinese PLA and the Indian Army from Patrolling Point 15 (Gogra-Hotsprings area) in September 2022 marked the restoration of normalcy along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. China’s claim appears to be an attempt to subtly build up pressure on India to accept the “new normal” in Depsang and Demchok areas where the Chinese PLA continues to block the Indian Army’s access to several patrolling points along the LAC.