Indian, Chinese military commanders start 7th meeting, likely to discuss measures to avert violent face-offs

The senior military commanders of India and China started yet another round of talks in eastern Ladakh on Monday – primarily to discuss measures to be put in place to avert flashpoints, as the eyeball-to-eyeball stand-off between the soldiers of the two sides along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is unlikely to end anytime soon.

The General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 14 Corps of the Indian Army, Lt. Gen. Harinder Singh, and Maj Gen Liu Lin of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) met at Chushul close to the LAC – the de facto boundary between the two nations in the western sector. They already had six rounds of talks after the stand-off started following the Chinese PLA’s unilateral move to push the LAC westward and the Indian Army’s counter-deployment in late April and early May.

They are likely to review implementation of the agreement the two sides reached during the last meeting on September 21 on stopping further deployment of troops along the LAC.

Read | Opinion: Understanding China’s attitude on the Ladakh stand-off

The two sides are expected to discuss a set of measures to avoid any violent face-off along the LAC as it might take weeks or months to restart the stalled process of mutual withdrawal of troops and end the stand-off. The proposals being discussed include setting perimeters around the forward positions of both sides on the friction points along the LAC. The senior military commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA will try to reach an agreement to avoid breaching perimeters of each other’s positions, as any such action can trigger response from the other side and may fast escalate into a violent face-off, a source in New Delhi told DH.

The source said that the efforts to restart the process to pull back soldiers would continue, but both the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA acknowledged the complexity of the disengagement exercise, which would require redeployment of troops by both towards regular posts on the respective sides of the LAC. It would need mutually agreed reciprocal actions and might take several weeks or months. “What however is urgently needed is to ensure stability and avert escalation of tension that could lead to violent face-offs like the one in Galwan Valley,” said the source, who is aware of New Delhi’s discussions with Beijing for resolution of the stand-off.

The Indian Army lost 20 of its soldiers in the clash with the Chinese PLA personnel at Galwan Valley – one of the multiple scenes of the current stand-off – on June 15. The PLA too suffered casualties, but never made public the number of its soldiers, who were injured or killed.

The Indian Army on August 29-30 night carried out an operation to preempt a move by the Chinese PLA to occupy land on the west of the LAC on the southern bank of the Pangong Tso lake. The PLA on September 7 accused the Indian Army of firing warning shots on its personnel in the same area. New Delhi, however, alleged that the PLA personnel had opened fire in the air to intimidate the Indian Army soldiers. It was the first incident of firing along the India-China disputed boundary since 1975.

The sixth round of talks between the senior military commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA on September 21 ended with both sides agreeing to stop sending more soldiers to the disputed boundary between the two nations. They, however, could not end the stalemate over withdrawal of large numbers of troops the two sides already deployed since the stand-off started.

The disengagement process they had mutually agreed upon remained stalled since mid-July with the Chinese PLA declining to completely withdraw troops from several “points of friction” along the LAC – like Depsang Y junction, Gogra Post and the northern bank of Pangong Tso.

The meeting on Monday is going to be the last Lt. Gen. Singh will have with his counterpart in the Chinese PLA before completing his term as the commander of the 14 Corps of the Indian Army. His successor Lt Gen P G K Menon joined him in the meeting with Maj Gen Liu. He had also done so on September 21.

The diplomats from both sides also joined the seventh rounds of talks between the senior military commanders, as they had done during the sixth meeting.