Words like “trust” and “friendship” made a comeback in the exchanges between the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Sunday, even as the soldiers of the two nations remain engaged in a standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
A hotline was established between the Indian Army at Kongra La in North Sikkim and the PLA at Khamba Dzong in Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. The Indian Army stated in a press-release that the hotline with the Chinese PLA was established to “further the spirit of trust and cordial relations along the borders”. The ground commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA attended the inauguration ceremony and “a message of friendship and harmony” was exchanged through the hotline, according to the press-release issued in New Delhi.
Though the “message of friendship” between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA was exchanged far away from the scene of the 16-month-long military standoff along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, it signalled easing of tension between the armed forces of the two nations.
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The inauguration of the hotline coincided with the PLA Day that commemorates the founding of the PLA in 1927.
Earlier, the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA routinely held ceremonial border personnel meetings along the LAC on Republic Day (January 26) and Independence Day (August 15) of India, PLA Day (August 1) and National Day (October 1) of China and the International Workers Day (May 1). But no such ceremonial border personnel meeting was held since April 2020, not only due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but also because the military standoff in eastern Ladakh escalated tension all along the disputed boundary between India and China and brought the relations between the two nations to a new low.
The inauguration of the new hotline took place just a day after the senior military commanders of India and China had another round of talks to resolve the standoff along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. It was the 12th such engagement between the senior military commanders of the two sides, after the standoff started in April-May 2020, following the Chinese PLA’s unilateral move to alter the status quo along the LAC and the counter-deployment by the Indian Army to resist it. Neither New Delhi, nor Beijing made the outcome of the talks public though.
The talks between the senior military commanders took place amid indications that the two sides may have reached closer to a deal to end the standoff at Gogra and Hot Springs along the LAC, but continue to have differences about Depsang Plains and Demchok.
If India and China announce a deal for mutual withdrawal of frontline troops from Gogra and Hot Springs along the LAC, it will be the second major breakthrough in the protracted negotiation between the two sides to resolve the 16-month-long standoff. The Indian Army and the Chinese PLA had earlier mutually withdrawn frontline troops from the face-off points on the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso between February 10 and 21.
The Indian Army’s delegation was led by Lt Gen PGK Menon, the commander of XIV Corps based in Leh. Maj Gen Liu Lin, commander of the South Xinjiang Military district of China, led the delegation of the PLA.