Jaishankar, Qin may meet to resolve stalemate over China's demand for no-patrol zone in Depsang Plains along its LAC

Though China’s demand for a no-patrol zone at Depsang Plains along its Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India has stalled negotiations to resolve the military stand-off between the two nations, a meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his counterpart Qin Gang in Cape Town may end the impasse.

Both Jaishankar and Qin are expected to travel to Cape Town to attend the meeting of the BRICS Foreign Ministers, which will be hosted by Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation on Thursday. They may hold a bilateral meeting on the sideline of the BRICS conclave.

The BRICS comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The meeting of the foreign ministers will lay the groundwork for the summit of the five-nation bloc, which South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will host in Cape Town from August 22-24 next.

Qin took over as the Chinese Foreign Minister on December 30 last. He so far had two bilateral meetings with Jaishankar – the first on the sideline of the G20 Foreign Ministers in New Delhi on March 2 and the second during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s meeting in Goa. If Jaishankar and Qin hold bilateral talks on the sideline of the BRICS meeting in Cape Town, it will be the third such meeting between them.

Alsoi Read | India facing 'very complicated challenge' from China: EAM Jaishankar

The two ministers are expected to focus on ending the stalemate in the negotiations between New Delhi and Beijing for mutual withdrawal of front-line troops from the remaining face-off points along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. Jaishankar during the past two meetings made it clear to Qin that the normalcy in the relations between India and China could not be restored without completely resolving the stand-off along the LAC – disengagement of troops from the remaining face-off points in eastern Ladakh and withdrawal of additional troops from the “depth areas”. New Delhi has been subtly rejecting Beijing’s claim that normalcy has already been restored in China-India border areas.

What caused the impasse in the negotiations between the two sides is China’s demand for a no-patrol zone with 15-20 km width at Depsang Plains in India.

The demand was put forward by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officials during talks with their counterparts in the Indian Army at the Chushul-Moldo border point on the LAC in eastern Ladakh on April 23 last. It was the 18th round of negotiations between the senior commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA after the stand-off had started in April-May 2020.

The Indian Army rejected the Chinese PLA’s demand because the no-patrol zone in Depsang Plains not only would have been the widest along the LAC. China’s demand would have also resulted in the creation of the wide no-patrol zone entirely in the territory claimed by India.

The Indian Army’s move to resist the aggressive attempt by the Chinese PLA to change the status quo along the LAC and to push the line westward resulted in a military stand-off in eastern Ladakh.

Negotiations between the two sides over the past three years resulted in the mutual withdrawal of frontline troops by the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA from four places along the LAC in eastern Ladakh – Galwan Valley, northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso, Gogra Post and Hot Springs. Each disengagement deal, however, involved the creation of a “no patrol zone” and raised questions if India had to leave vast swathes of land well within the territory claimed by it vulnerable to future aggression by China and if they would make the restoration of the pre-April-2020 status quo impossible.

China continues to have its PLA troops deployed in Depsang well inside the territory of India and they continue to block the Indian Army’s access to Patrolling Points 10, 11, 12, 12A and 13. A face-off is also continuing near Charding-Ninglung Nala in the south of Demchok.