Both sides agree to maintain dialogue
India and China on Sunday said the latest round of military level talks was “candid, in depth and constructive.”
The parleys held on Friday, however, could not achieve any breakthrough on defusing tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
In a statement issued both in Beijing and New Delhi, the two countries said it was agreed to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two nations.
The statement also said the two Armies also agreed that the frontline troops “exercise restraint and avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation.”
The Corps Commander-level talks were held at Chushul border meeting point on Friday at the LAC with Lt General P G K Menon heading the Indian delegation while Major General Liu Lin led the Chinese tea.
The Indian team also included Naveen Srivastava, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs.
The talks went on for more than ten hours and the two commanders agreed to have another round of meeting soon.
The statement said both sides agreed to maintain dialogue and communication through military and diplomatic channels, and take forward the discussions for the settlement of outstanding issues.
The statement said the two sides had a candid, in-depth and constructive exchange of views on disengagement along the LAC in the Western Sector of India-China border areas.
Standing firm on its stand, the Indian delegation insisted that the Chinese withdraw from all the stand-off points in eastern Ladakh. China, however, wanted the Indian troops to pull back from the vantage positions in south and north banks of Pangong Tso(lake)in Ladakh, sources said. The Indian Army in August occupied all the high points in these areas giving them distinct advantage over the Chinese.
At present, more than one lakh troops from both the armies are deployed in the 1,700 km long LAC in Ladakh. Moreover, both the armies have brought forward their heavy weapons to provide muscle their defences.
Even as India has all along favoured dialogue to resolve the current situation, the Indian army is preparing for a long haul. It has already bolstered its logistical support in terms of winter clothes and insulated prefabricated huts. These critical items will held the soldiers to withstand the harsh winters when the temperature dips minus 20 and below.
Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat on Friday asserted India will not accept any shifting of the LAC, and noted that the possibility of transgressions and confrontations on the border spiralling into a “larger conflict” cannot be ruled out.
At the seventh round of talks too on October 13, both sides had agreed to maintain dialogue and communication through military and diplomatic channels to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution for disengagement “as early as possible”.
India has maintained the onus is on China to carry forward the process of disengagement and de-escalation at the friction points in the mountainous region.
Following the sixth round of military talks on September 21, the two sides announced a slew of decisions in a joint statement including not to send more troops to the frontline, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground and avoid taking any actions that may further complicate matters.
The sixth round was held with a specific agenda of exploring ways to implement a five-point agreement reached between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at a meeting in Moscow on September 10 on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO) conclave.
The pact included measures like quick disengagement of troops, avoiding action that could escalate tensions, adherence to all agreements and protocols on border management and steps to restore peace along the LAC.
When asked about the six-month-long military standoff, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at a media briefing on Friday both sides continue to maintain close communication at the military and diplomatic levels to achieve complete disengagement along the LAC.