New Delhi: Indian and Chinese Corps Commanders will be holding 4th round of military level talks on Tuesday to discuss further “disengagement and re-location of troops in the areas of contesting claims.”
The meeting will take place at Chushul in Ladakh sector which is on the Indian side of line of actual control (LAC) and is likely to start at 11:30 am in the morning, said sources.
“The meeting on Tuesday will discuss the modalities of further disengaging Chinese troops from the Pangong Tso and other face-off points. It will also focus on how heavy build-up of troops on the both sides of the LAC could be brought down,” said sources.
In the last meeting on June 30, 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen Harinder Singh and South Xinjiang Military Region, commander Maj Gen Liu Lin had agreed to mutually move back their troops in flash points by upto 2 kilometers in the Ladakh sector to bring down chances of a confrontation.
Last week Indian and Chinese troops completed their initial phase of disengagement from flashpoints by mutually moving back from Galwan Valley, Hot Springs, Gogra Post and finger 4 area of Pangong Tso.
Chinese troops have moved back from finger 4 area to finger 5 in Pangong Tso but are still occupying ridges in that area. Indian troops too have moved back and are not holding finger 4. Chinese troops still have to vacate area between finger 5 and finger 8, which India claims is its territory. In May 2020, Chinese troops in an aggressive move occupied the area between Finger 4 to Finger 8 and prevented Indian troops from patrolling the area.
As per the agreement, a buffer zone of atleast 1.5 kilometers on both sides of the LAC has to be created in the areas of stand-off. There will be restriction on patrolling in these buffer areas for some time and these zones will be monitored through drones and satellites.
While Indian and Chinese troops have moved slightly away from flashpoints, the bigger concern is presence of large number of troops from both sides with heavy weapons including artillery and tanks in the forward areas, along the line of actual control (LAC) in the Ladakh sector.
China is reported to have deployed around 20,000 troops at the LAC on the Ladakh sector with another 12,000 in the reserves ready to be deployed at short notice. India too has done similar deployment to counter any Chinese aggression.
Till these troops don’t move from the LAC to their peace time locations tensions between India and China will remain high.
