Senior military commanders from India and China met on Sunday to try to end the impasse in eastern Ladakh and reach an agreement on one of the many sticking points, the Hot Springs area, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The talks on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at Moldo were kept under wraps.
The conversations follow at least two recent incidences of Chinese forces intruding into Indian territory, in Uttarakhand’s Barahoti and Arunachal Pradesh’s Arunachal Pradesh. They were supposed to concentrate on removing troops from the Hot Springs region.
The troops were disengaged from Pangong Tso Lake and Gogra Post earlier this year. If the two sides agree to leave Hot Springs, the attention will shift to de-escalation, or the withdrawal of the tens of thousands of troops stockpiled along the border during the almost 17-month standoff.
Along the LAC, India and China each have between 50,000 and 60,000 troops. The focus could also be on new patrolling norms in places where the two sides have disengaged, as well as discussions on other points of contention, such as the Depsang Plains and Demchok.
Speaking at the India Today Conclave on Saturday, Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane expressed concern about China’s military build-up in eastern Ladakh and new infrastructure development along the disputed boundary to support the large-scale deployment.
The army leader stated that the construction of infrastructure “shows they (China) are there to stay.”
“We’re keeping a careful eye on all of these developments,” he said, “but if they’re here to stay, we’re here to stay as well.”
If Chinese troops stay there through the second winter, Naravane says, “we will definitely be in a kind of LoC scenario, though not an active LoC like there is on the western front.” He was referring to Indian troops keeping their current positions on heights with temperatures falling to minus 30 degrees Celsius.
(With inputs from mint – News.)
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