India and China agreed to maintain peace and tranquility in the border regions while also working quickly to resolve outstanding issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, according to a joint statement released on Tuesday, one day after the dialogue’s conclusion. The agreement was reached during a rare two-day military summit.
Although the conversations were characterized as “positive, constructive, and in-depth” in the readout of the 19th round of the Corps Commander-level conference, it did not show any immediate progress in the withdrawal of soldiers in the remaining sites of contention.
According to persons with knowledge of the situation, the high-level military meetings on the border dispute were the first to last two days and lasted around 17 hours altogether.
The discussions took place on August 13 and 14 at the Chushul-Moldo border crossing point on the Indian side of the LAC, one week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to Johannesburg for the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit, where he is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping face-to-face.
“The settlement of the outstanding concerns along the LAC in the Western Sector was the subject of an extensive, positive, and productive dialogue between the two parties. According to the leadership’s direction, they had an open and forward-thinking discussion, according to a statement.
According to the statement, “they agreed to swiftly resolve the outstanding issues and maintain the momentum of dialogue and negotiations through military and diplomatic channels.”
The statement issued simultaneously in Delhi and Beijing said that “in the interim, the two sides agreed to maintain the peace and tranquillity on the ground in the border areas.”
In a similar occurrence, the individuals described above said that on the occasion of India’s Independence Day, sweets were exchanged between the Indian Army and PLA personnel at many border meeting sites along the LAC.
Since a few years ago, it has been customary for the two forces to exchange sweets on holidays like Republic Day and Independence Day.
It has been reported that during the negotiations, the Indian side pushed hard for a resolution to the unresolved problems at Depsang and Demchok.
Following the 18th round of military negotiations in April, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement that “the two sides agreed to stay in close contact, maintain dialogue through military and diplomatic channels, and work out a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest.” Eastern Ladakh is referred to by the government as the Western Sector.
Even though the two sides completed their pullout from a number of regions after protracted diplomatic and military discussions, the Indian and Chinese soldiers have been engaged in a three-year-long conflict in specific flashpoints in eastern Ladakh.
The Chinese mission was led by the commander of the South Xinjiang military area, whereas the Indian delegation was led by Lt Gen Rashim Bali, Commander of the 14 Corps, which has its headquarters in Leh.
The Indian side had advocated for the quickest possible resolution of the unresolved problems at Depsang and Demchok at the 18th session of the military discussion, which was held on April 23.
Ajit Doval, the national security adviser, and Wang Yi, the senior diplomat of China, met on July 24 in Johannesburg at a BRICS summit.
The western sector of the India-China border situation along the LAC since 2020, according to the MEA’s statement on the meeting, has “eroded strategic trust” and the political and social foundation of the relationship.
The NSA, according to the report, emphasized the need of continuing efforts to thoroughly settle the issue and restore calm and tranquility in the border regions in order to eliminate obstacles to regular bilateral relations.
India has insisted that peace in the border regions is a prerequisite for normalizing relations with China.
Following a bloody altercation at Pangong Lake on May 5, 2020, the eastern Ladakh border standoff broke out.
Following the intense combat in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, which was the biggest important military confrontation between the two sides in decades, relations between the two nations took a sharp turn for the worst.
The two parties concluded the disengagement process in 2021 on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake as well as in the Gogra region as a result of several military and diplomatic discussions.
