Ladakh stand-off: 3rd round India-China Lt Gen-level talks on Tuesday

Indian and Chinese militaries will hold the third round of Lt General-level talks in Chusul on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control on Tuesday (June 30) in an attempt to finalise modalities for the disengagement of troops from the sensitive eastern Ladakh region, said government sources on Monday.

The meeting will begin at 10:30 am on Tuesday, sources added. The previous two meetings were held at Moldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control. In the second round of talks on June 22, the two sides arrived at a “mutual consensus” to “disengage” from all the friction points in eastern Ladakh.

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In the forthcoming round of talks on Tuesday, the two sides are expected to deliberate on implementing an agreement arrived at the first round of talks on June 6, sources said. The Indian delegation at the talks will be led by 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen Harinder Singh while the Chinese side is likely to be headed by the Commander of Tibet Military District.

The talks were necessitated in wake of clashes between the armies of the two countries in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on June 15 night, during which at least 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives, furthering escalating tensions between the Asian neighbours which were already in the midst of a border dispute.

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During the June 15 clashes, the Chinese soldiers had used stones, nail-studded sticks, iron rods and clubs in carrying out brutal attacks on Indian Army personnel after they protested the erection of a surveillance post by China on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control in Galwan Valley.

After the clashes, the two sides held at least three rounds of Major-General level talks to explore ways to bring down tension between the two sides. Both the countries, meanwhile, had significantly reinforced their deployments in the sensitive Ladakh region following the June 15 bloodshed.

(With inputs from agencies)