During the 19th round of military talks held on 13-14 August, the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) decided to swiftly resolve the outstanding issues along the contentious Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh sector through continued communication, according to a joint statement released on Tuesday.
Calm and peace on the border
“They consented to swiftly resolve the outstanding concerns and keep the lines of communication and discussion open through military and diplomatic channels. The two sides agreed to maintain calm and peace in the border regions in the interim, according to the statement.
For the first time, the military discussions lasted for two days. At the Chushul-Moldo border crossing on the Indian side, the 19th round of the corps commander-level meeting between India and China was held.
According to the statement, the two parties had a fruitful, instructive, and in-depth discussion about how to resolve the outstanding concerns along the LAC in the Western sector. It said, “In keeping with the direction set forth by the leadership, they discussed views in an open and forward-thinking manner.
Over three years have passed since the two sides became impasse in the Ladakh region. Nearly four months had passed since the 18th round of military dialogue, which took place on April 23, before the most recent round of discussions between corps commanders.
Regular communication through diplomatic channels
The parties agreed to keep in regular communication, continue communicating through military and diplomatic channels, and attempt to resolve the outstanding concerns as soon as possible. However, such negotiations did not result in any major progress.
The Indian and Chinese armies continue to have tens of thousands of soldiers and cutting-edge equipment deployed in the Ladakh theatre despite four rounds of withdrawal from the Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra (PP-17A), and Hot Springs (PP-15).
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After the 16th round of military negotiations in July 2022 to defuse tensions in the delicate area, the last round of disengagement from the PP-15 took place in September 2022.
Depsang issues in the Daulet Beg Oldi sector and Charding Nullah Junction (CNJ) issues in the Demchok sector are still up for discussion.
The 19th round of negotiations took place prior to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attendance at the BRICs Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, from August 22–24.
Chinese leader to attend the G20 conference
According to some with knowledge of the situation, a meeting between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping outside of the summit has not been ruled out. The Chinese leader is also anticipated to attend the G20 conference in New Delhi in September, though there has been no confirmation as of yet.
In July, India changed its prior description of the contact as merely an exchange of courtesies and claimed that Modi and Xi discussed the need to stabilize bilateral ties during a quick encounter on the fringes of the G20 Summit in Indonesia last year.
