India and China hope to break the stalemate at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh during the 12th round of military level talks likely to be held shortly. More than one lakh jawans from the two sides are engaged in a stand-off for the last one year at three friction points.
Favouring dialogue at the military and diplomatic level, India has all along maintained that disengagement and de-escalation have to be complete from all face-off sites to ensure long lasting peace and tranquility at the LAC. However, China is not willing to do so and has so far not given any commitment to hasten the process of withdrawing its troops from the three points namely Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang valley.
In fact, there is no thinning out of troops by China since the withdrawal from both the armies from southern and northern banks of the Pangong Tso(lake)in late February.
The lake was the first place where the stand-offs began last year in early May when an Indian patrol was stopped by the Chinese.