India, China hold commander-level talks over Ladakh

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, October 11

Less than two months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a “brief conversation” on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Africa, military commanders of two countries have met yet again over disengagement in eastern Ladakh.

The 20th round of corps commander-level meeting was held at Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Indian side on October 9-10, the Ministry of External Affairs said tonight. “The two sides exchanged views in a frank, open and constructive manner for an early and mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues… agreed to maintain the momentum of dialogue… and maintain peace,” the MEA said in a statement on its website.

The two sides have been locked in a stand-off in eastern Ladakh since April 2020. Differences remain unresolved over pulling back of troops from Depsang plains and Charding Nullah (near Demchok).

At Depsang, a 972-sq-km plateau, the two sides have issues over troops’ positions, especially at ‘bottleneck’ on the eastern edge of Depsang. India has already suggested to China that a graded three-step process is needed to ease the standoff. The first is disengagement of troops within close proximity of each other in grey zones along the LAC and getting back to positions as on April 2020.

The next two steps—de-escalation and de-induction—would entail pulling back troops and equipment to the pre-April 2020 levels. Till that is agreed upon and complied, it cannot be assumed to be business as usual and Indian troops intend to remain at the LAC.