India, China begin 'disengaging' troops from Hot Springs in eastern Ladakh

Tribune News Service

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, September 8

In a step to defuse tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), India and China today began the “disengagement” of their troops from the Gogra-Hot Springs area (Patrolling Point 15) in eastern Ladakh.

The Ministry of Defence in a statement said that “as per the consensus reached in the 16th round of India-China Corps Commander-level meeting, the Indian and Chinese troops in the area of Gogra-Hot Springs (PP-15) have begun to disengage in a coordinated and planned way, which is conducive to peace and tranquillity in the border areas.”

The 16th round of talks was conducted on July 17 this year. After April 2021 when troops disengaged from the north and south banks of Pangong Tso, this is the first positive development on the ground towards an amicable resolution to the ongoing military standoff. Several more affirmative steps, however, will be required to get the troop positions back to pre-April 2020 levels. The Indian side has been insisting on a graded three-step process to ease the standoff. The first step comprises disengagement of troops within close proximity in grey zones along the LAC.

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 to and complied with, it cannot be business as usual. Till then, Indian troops intend to remain at the LAC, sources said. Among the pending issues is the dispute over Depsang, a 972-sq km plateau. The two sides have issues over the troop positioning, especially at the “bottleneck” on the eastern edge of Depsang.

India has also been objecting to People’s Liberation Army (PLA) blocking Indian patrols on the Depsang patrolling route after April 2020, the sources said. The PLA uses a set of vehicles to block the designated patrolling route.

Another issue is the ongoing moratorium on the patrolling in the grey zone of the LAC where both sides have overlapping claims. Patrolling must commence in the zone lest China stakes claim. The two sides have been locked in a standoff since April 2020, with thousands of troops, hundreds of guns, tanks, missiles, fighter jets and long-range artillery amassed on either side of the LAC.

India shares a 832-km-long LAC, which is undemarcated on the ground, with China in the eastern Ladakh sector.

Depsang among pending issues

• Dispute over Depsang, a 972-sq km plateau, is yet to be resolved
• India has been objecting to the PLA blocking its patrols in the area after April 2020
• Moratorium on patrolling in LAC grey zone where both sides have overlapping claims is another concern

Withdrawal may open path for Xi-Modi meeting

New Delhi: The withdrawal of troops in Ladakh may pave the way for a meeting between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping either at the SCO summit in Uzbekistan next week or at the G-20 Summit in Bali in November. Contacts between India and China reduced drastically after the Galwan Valley clash in 2020, which was preceded by two interactions with PM Modi at Wuhan and Mamallapuram in 2019. TNS

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