Eastern Ladakh row: India, China military commanders hold 18th round of negotiations

With Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar likely to host their respective counterparts from Beijing over the next fortnight, the senior Indian and Chinese military commanders on Sunday restarted the stalled negotiations to resolve the stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) eastern Ladakh.

The senior commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) met on the neighbouring communist country’s side at the Chushul-Moldo border point in eastern Ladakh. It was the 18th round of negotiations between the military commanders of the two nations since the stand-off along the LAC started in April-May 2020. A source in New Delhi told DH that the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA had discussed proposals for the mutual withdrawal of troops from the remaining face-off points along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

The negotiations at the level of the military commanders remained stalled for four months since December 20, when they had held the 17th round of talks. It resumed on Sunday, just days before Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu’s visit to New Delhi to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

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Li may have a bilateral meeting with his host Singh on the sideline of the SCO meeting, which will be held on April 27 and 28.

Jaishankar and the Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang are also expected to hold a bilateral meeting on the sideline of another SCO meet, which will be held in Goa on May 4 and 5 next.

The delegation of the Indian Army was led by Lt Gen Rashim Bali, the commander of its XIV corps based in Leh. His counterpart and the chief of the South Xinjiang Military District of China led the delegation of the communist party’s PLA.

Beijing in April-May 2020 made an aggressive move to unilaterally change the status quo along the LAC – the de facto boundary between China and India – in eastern Ladakh, by deploying a large number of troops of the Chinese PLA. The Indian Army too had to deploy additional troops to resist the Chinese PLA’s move to push the LAC westward. This resulted in a military stand-off.

Though protracted negotiations led to mutual withdrawal of troops by both the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA from some of the face-off points along the LAC, the stand-off could not be resolved completely so far. The PLA troops deployed in Depsang, well inside the territory of India along the LAC with China, are still continuing to block the Indian Army’s access to Patrolling Points 10, 11, 12, 12A and 13. A face-off is also continuing in Demchok.

Beijing has of late been claiming that the mutual withdrawal of troops by the Chinese PLA and the Indian Army from Patrolling Point 15 (Gogra-Hotsprings area) in September 2022 marked the restoration of normalcy along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

China’s claim appears to be an attempt to subtly build up pressure on India to accept the “new normal” in Depsang and Demchok areas.