Dharamshala, 11th October: Following a deadly border skirmish in the strategically crucial Galwan river valley in Ladakh in June last year, tensions between India and China have been high. The last round of talks between Indian and Chinese military commanders over the impasse in Ladakh ended on Sunday, according to the Indian Army. The Chinese side was not “agreeable” and “could not make any forward-looking proposals,” per the Indian Army.
India insists on unreasonable and unrealistic demands, adding difficulties to the negotiations” the Chinese military’s Western Theater Command said in a statement, indicating that the talks had failed. It went on to say that China had made “tremendous efforts to ease and cool down the border situation and fully demonstrated its sincerity.”
At the 13th round of military discussions with China, which lasted about eight and a half hours on Sunday, India advocated for an early disengagement of soldiers from the remaining trouble points in eastern Ladakh. The blocked disengagement at the Hot Springs region was a key focus of the Corps Commander-level negotiations on the Chinese side of the Chushul-Moldo boundary point in eastern Ladakh.
The meetings, which began at 10:30 a.m. and finished at 7 p.m., came nearly two months after the previous round of talks, which resulted in the withdrawal of forces from Gogra. The Gogra agreement saw India and China retreat in four of the six flashpoints, including Galwan and the North and South Banks of the Pangong Lake. Depsang and Hot Springs are still locked in a standoff. India has insisted that the resolution of remaining concerns in all areas of tension, particularly Depsang, is necessary for the two nations’ relations to improve overall.
The latest talks took place in the aftermath of two recent incidences of Chinese forces attempting incursions, one in Uttarakhand’s Barahoti sector and the other in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector. Around ten days ago, Indian and Chinese troops engaged in a minor skirmish at Yangtse in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh, which was resolved within a few hours after talks between the two sides’ commanders, as per protocol. On August 30, over 100 Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers crossed the Line of Control in Uttarakhand’s Barahoti sector and returned after a few hours.