Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 12: India and China are convening another round of high-level military talks on Wednesday, after a three-month hiatus, to end the 20-month-long military standoff in eastern Ladakh’s remaining friction sites, according to security establishment sources.
They stated the 14th round of Corps Commander-level discussions is taking place on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh at the Chushul-Moldo border point.
At around 9:30 a.m., the Senior Highest Military Commander Level (SHMCL) negotiations were set to commence.
The talks are expected to focus mostly on disengagement in the Hot Springs area, according to sources.
Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta, the newly-appointed Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, is leading the Indian team to the discussions. South Xinjiang Military District Chief Maj Gen Yang Lin was to lead the Chinese delegation. In all remaining friction points, including the Depsang Bulge and Demchok, the Indian side is expected to press on disengagement as soon as possible.
The 13th round of negotiations took held on October 10 and ended in a deadlock.
Both parties failed to make any progress in the negotiations, with the Indian Army claiming afterward that its “constructive suggestions” were not acceptable to the Chinese side and that it could not make any “forward-looking” proposals.
The new talks come just days after India chastised China for constructing a bridge across Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh, claiming that it is in a territory that has been under China’s illegal occupancy for more than 60 years.
Last week, India called China’s renaming of some locations in Arunachal Pradesh a “ridiculous exercise” aimed at bolstering “untenable territorial” claims, stating that the state has always been and would always be a “indigenous” part of India.
On November 18, India and China agreed to hold the 14th round of military discussions as soon as possible in order to achieve the goal of complete disengagement in eastern Ladakh’s remaining contention points.
Following a deadly fight in the Pangong lake areas, an eastern Ladakh border stalemate between Indian and Chinese forces erupted on May 5, 2020.
Both sides gradually increased their deployment by bringing in tens of thousands of troops and heavy equipment.
Last year, the two sides concluded the disengagement process on the north and south banks of the Pangong Lake, as well as in the Gogra area, following a series of military and diplomatic talks.
In the sensitive area of the LAC, each side has between 50,000 and 60,000 troops.
