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India
oi-Madhuri Adnal
Ladakh, Jan 24: Corps Commander-level meeting between armies of India and China has started in Chushul on Sunday, with an aim to resolve the ongoing dispute over Chinese aggression along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh area.
This is the ninth round of Corps Commander-level talks being held.
India has all along been maintaining that the onus is on China to carry forward the process of disengagement and de-escalation at the friction points in the mountainous region.
‘The focus of the talks is going to be on the disengagement process,’ said a source.
The meeting comes at the peak of winter when sub-zero temperatures have forced both sides to reduce deployment.
On January 12, Army chief Gen MM Naravane had said that Indian troops will hold their ground as long as it takes to achieve the ‘national goals and objectives’ even as he hoped for an amicable resolution of the prolonged standoff through talks. The standoff erupted on May 5 last.
Nearly 50,000 troops of the Indian Army are deployed in a high state of combat readiness in various mountainous locations in eastern Ladakh in sub-zero temperatures as multiple rounds of talks between the two sides have not yielded concrete outcome to resolve the standoff. China has also deployed an equal number of troops, according to officials.
Last month, India and China held another round of diplomatic talks under the framework of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs. However, no concrete outcome emerged from the talks.
India-China to hold 9th round of military commander level talks today
Following the sixth round of military talks on September 21, the two sides had announced a slew of decisions 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.
This 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.
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