No breakthrough yet, but diplomats, military commanders to keep talking to defuse India-China border tension

The meeting between Indian, Chinese military commanders held in “cordial, peaceful atmosphere”, but will not result in immediate de-escalation of tension

India and China will continue to hold talks to defuse tension along their disputed boundary in eastern Ladakh, as no breakthrough could be achieved in the meeting between the military commanders of the two nations on Saturday.

The commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) held a meeting at Chushul-Moldo point on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the de facto boundary between the two nations – on Saturday. Though the meeting was held in a “cordial and positive atmosphere”, it did not immediately result in the Chinese PLA withdrawing its soldiers, who over the past few weeks transgressed the LAC in several locations on the bank of the Pangong Tso lake and Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh and entered into Indian territory.

The Indian Army too will not immediately withdraw additional troops it deployed as a countermeasure to the build-up by the Chinese PLA along the disputed boundary.

New Delhi and Beijing, however, agreed to “continue the military and diplomatic engagements to resolve the situation and to ensure peace and tranquility in the border areas”.

The Indian and Chinese military commanders also agreed “to peacefully resolve the situation in the border areas in accordance with various bilateral agreements and keeping in view the agreement between the leaders (of the two nations) that peace and tranquility in the India-China border regions is essential for the overall development of bilateral relations”, according to a press-release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi on Sunday.

“Both sides also noted that this year marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and agreed that an early resolution would contribute to the further development of the relationship,”

“Accordingly,” the MEA stated in New Delhi, “the two sides will continue the military and diplomatic engagements to resolve the situation and to ensure peace and tranquility in the border areas.”

India and China inked as many as five agreements in 20 years between 1993 and 2013 to put in place a number of Confidence Building Measures to manage the occasional flashpoints along the long disputed boundary between the two neighbouring nations, including face-offs between the patrolling units of the border guards and the militaries of both sides as well as the stand-offs.

Lt Gen Harinder Singh, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 14 corps of the Indian Army, led the delegation from India in the meeting with the Chinese PLA officials on Saturday. China’s delegation was led by Maj Gen Liu Lin, commander of the South Xinjiang Military Region of the Chinese PLA.

A day before the meeting between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA commanders, the senior diplomats of the two nations had discussed the situation along the LAC through video-link between New Delhi and Beijing on Friday. The video-conference had ended with both sides reiterating commitment to the consensus reached between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the two “informal summits” they had in April 2018 and October 2019. The senior diplomats had also agreed not to allow the differences to turn into disputes.

The Indian Army asked the Chinese PLA during the meeting on Saturday to fully restore the status quo ante that had prevailed along the LAC before May 5 – the day a scuffle between the soldiers of the two nations had broken out on the bank of the Pangong Tso lake.

The Chinese PLA over the past few weeks deployed nearly 5000 soldiers in a large camp set up recently at Galwan Valley within the territory claimed by China – while hundreds of its personnel transgressed the LAC in at least three locations and entered several kilometers into the areas claimed by India. The Indian Army too responded by rushing additional troops “in adequate numbers”.

The build-ups by both sides escalated tension along the LAC – three years after the bilateral relations between the two nations had hit a new low over a 72-day-long military face-off between the two nations at Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan. The informal summit between the Prime Minister and Chinese President at Wuhan in central China in April 2018 had brought about a thaw in the relations, which, however, again came under stress after Beijing joined Pakistan’s propaganda against the August 5, 2019 decision of the Modi Government in New Delhi to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and to reorganize the state into two Union Territories.