As face-offs persist at some points at the Line of Actual Control(LAC), India and China on Saturday will hold the 12th round of military level talks to find ways to hasten up the withdrawal of troops. The forthcoming talks come after many weeks as the last round was held in the first week of April.

While the two Corps Commanders will focus on early disengagement during the parleys at Moldo on the Chinese side of the LAC in Chushul sector, an immediate breakthrough is unlikely, sources said here on Friday.

India is insisting that the troops of both the armies withdraw from all the remaining friction points before ties are normalized. China wants the issue to be handled at the local commander level.  The Indian security establishment is wary of such a proposal and will take a call after the talks on Saturday, they said.

The fresh round of Corps Commander talks is scheduled to start at 10:30 AM.  The main focus of the talks will be on addressing outstanding problems in Hot Springs and Gogra, sources said.

The latest round of talks will take place after a gap of more than three and a half months. The 11th round of talks had taken place on April 9 at the Chushul border point on the Indian side of the LAC.

Indian and Chinese troops disengaged and returned to their original positions from the northern and southern banks of the Pangong Tso(lake)in Eastern Ladakh in February.

However, stalemate continues at the Hot Springs, Gogra and the Depsang Valley.  Incidentally, the first stand-off took place in early May last year in the Pangong Tso sector.  Stand-offs at several other locations along the LAC there erupted later including a bloody brawl leaving 20 Indian personnel including the commanding officer dead.  More than 30 Chinese soldiers were also killed by Beijing so far has not given out the exact number of casualties.

The upcoming talks may see an agreement of partial withdrawal of troops from the Hot Springs and Gogra, sources said.  However, friction points in the Depsang valley and Demchok will be taken up once the disengagement is complete at Patrolling Points 15 and 17A in Gogra and Hot Springs.

Once the disengagement from all friction areas is complete, the de-escalation of the massive troop build-up along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh will be discussed after which both sides will work out new guidelines for patrolling in these areas.

At present, more than one lakh troops from both the sides are deployed at the LAC in Eastern Ladakh since May last year leading to tension.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in mid-July this year on the sideline of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO).  Both the ministers agreed to hold the commander level talks as soon as possible and called for maintaining peace and tranquility at the LAC.