LAC stand-off: India, China to hold next round of military talks on January 12

The military commanders of India and China are likely to meet on January 12 to restart negotiations to resolve the 21-month-long stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

The two sides agreed to restart negotiations, even as China on Friday defended the construction of the bridge over Pangong Tso (lake) near its LAC with India as its sovereign rights.

“I want to stress that China’s infrastructure construction on its territory entirely falls within its sovereignty and is aimed at safeguarding China’s territorial sovereignty and security as well as peace and stability in the China-India border area,” Wang Wenbin, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Government, told journalists in Beijing.

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He was reacting to India’s statement that China’s new bridge over Pangong Tso near the LAC between the two nations was being built on its territory illegally occupied by the neighbouring communist country. New Delhi had pointed out on Thursday that India had never accepted the illegal occupation of its territory by China.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is apparently building the bridge to link the northern and the southern banks of Pangong Tso in order to quickly respond to any future move by the Indian Army to gain a strategic edge.

Meanwhile, New Delhi and Beijing agreed that the military commanders of the two nations will hold the 14th round of negotiations to resolve the ongoing stand-off along the LAC on January 12. The 13th round of negotiation on October 10 last had ended in a stalemate.

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