Both agree to refrain from sending more troops to border
India and China on Monday failed to break the logjam even as they reiterated their resolve to hold a sustained dialogue to defuse tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh and refrain from sending more troops to the border. Both the sides also agreed to hold another round of military-level talks as soon as possible for disengagement and de-escalation.
The two sides reaffirmed these commitments during the seventh round of Corps Commander-level talks in Chushul on the Indian side of the LAC in Ladakh.
China insisted that India withdraw its troops from the south bank of Pangong Tso (lake) before it pulls back its troops. India was firm that China has to take the lead in disengaging and only then it will gradually start the withdrawal process from the confrontation sites.
Elaborating upon the talks, sources said here later India wanted China to show its intent in bringing down temperature at the volatile border. This firm message was conveyed by the Indian delegation led by 14 Corps chief Lt General Harinder Singh. The other officials included Lt General PK Menon who will replace Singh as the 14 Corps chief after Singh moves as the Indian Military Academy (IMA) chief next week. The Chinese delegation was led by Major General Liu Lin.
Both the delegations included Foreign Ministry officials thereby indicating keenness by both the countries to find a solution at the earliest. Naveen Srivastava represented the Indian Foreign Ministry in Monday’s talks, officials said.
Reviewing the current situation at the 1,700-km long LAC in Ladakh, both the commanders expressed satisfaction over relative calm prevailing at the border since September 10.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi held bilateral talks in Moscow that day over the Ladakh issue. Both the Ministers agreed to continue dialogue and maintain peace and tranquility for early disengagement.
Later, the two Corps Commanders held extensive sixth round of talks on September 21 and issued a joint statement agreeing not to send more troops to the border. This step was taken as a confidence building measure.
During the latest round of talks, the two commanders also focused on ways to thinning out additional troops from the depth areas and withdraw heavy weapons. However, both the sides are yet to pull back as India is wary of the Chinese, sources said.
At present, more than one lakh troops of both the armies are deployed at the LAC besides heavy weapons. As China stationed more than 150 aircraft in the Tibet region since the stand offs began in early May, the IAF also deployed all its frontline aircraft all along the 4,000 km long LAC from Ladakh in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east. The newly inducted Rafale jets are now flying regular sorties in Ladakh along with SU-30s, Mirages and MIG-29s.
Not willing to take any chances, the Indian armed forces are preparing for a long haul and supplementing its logistics resources for winter deployment in Ladakh. Also, additional troops trained in mountain warfare were kept in reserve. Most of these personnel have served long stints in the Siachen glacier and other such tough places and are battle hardened, they said.