India, China agree to speedily resolve Eastern Ladakh issues in 2-day military talks

After two days of military talks, India and China have agreed to resolve the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh expeditiously besides maintaining peace and tranquillity in the border areas.

This was declared in a joint statement on Tuesday (August 15), a day after the dialogue concluded. The readout on the 19th round of Corps Commander-level meeting described the talks as “positive, constructive, and in-depth” but it did not indicate any immediate breakthrough in the disengagement of troops in the remaining friction points.

For the first time, the high-level military talks on the border row spanned two days, people familiar with the matter said, adding the discussions totalled around 17 hours over two days.

The talks were held at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Indian side of the LAC on August 13-14, a week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to Johannesburg to attend a summit of BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa), where he is set to come face to face with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“In-depth discussion”

“The two sides had a positive, constructive, and in-depth discussion on the resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC in the Western Sector. In line with the guidance provided by the leadership, they exchanged views in an open and forward-looking manner,” a statement said.

“They agreed to resolve the remaining issues in an expeditious manner and maintain the momentum of dialogue and negotiations through military and diplomatic channels,” it said.

“In the interim, the two sides agreed to maintain the peace and tranquillity on the ground in the border areas,” said the statement released simultaneously in Delhi and Beijing.

Sweets exchanged at border

In a related development, sweets were exchanged between the Indian Army and PLA troops in multiple border meeting points along the LAC on India’s Independence Day on Tuesday, the people cited above said. Exchange of sweets between the two militaries on occasions like Independence Day and Republic Day has been a tradition for the last several years.

It is learnt that in the talks, the Indian side strongly pressed for resolving the lingering issues at Depsang and Demchok.

A statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) following the 18th round of military talks in April said “the two sides agreed to stay in close contact and maintain dialogue through military and diplomatic channels and work out a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest”. The government refers to eastern Ladakh as the Western Sector.

Locked in confrontation

The Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a confrontation in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh for over three years even though the two sides completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks.

The Indian delegation was headed by Lt Gen Rashim Bali, the Commander of the Leh-headquartered 14 Corps, while the Chinese team was led by the commander of the South Xinjiang military district. In the 18th round of the military dialogue held on April 23, the Indian side had pitched for resolving the lingering issues at Depsang and Demchok at the earliest.

On July 24, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on the sidelines of a meeting of the five-nation grouping BRICS in Johannesburg.

Erosion of “strategic trust”

In its statement on the meeting, the MEA said Doval conveyed that the situation along the LAC in the western sector of the India-China boundary since 2020 had “eroded strategic trust” and the public and political basis of the relationship.

It said the NSA emphasised the importance of continuing efforts to fully resolve the situation and restore peace and tranquillity in the border areas so as to remove impediments to normalcy in bilateral ties.

India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas. The eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area.

The ties between the two countries nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process in 2021 on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area.