LAC stand-off: Jaishankar, Wang agree all remaining face-off points to be discussed during next commander-level meeting

China wanted to discuss withdrawal of troops from Gogra and Hot Springs, but not from Depsang Plain, in next meeting, India insisted agenda should include all issues

When Indian and Chinese military commanders will meet for the next round of talks, they should discuss mutual disengagement of troops from all the remaining face-off points along the Line of Actual Control, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his counterpart in the communist country, Wang Yi, agreed on Wednesday.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been refusing to include disengagement of troops along the LAC on Depsang Plains in eastern Ladakh in the agenda for discussion during the next round of talks between its senior commander and his counterpart in the Indian Army. Jaishankar, however, insisted during a meeting with Wang in Dushanbe that the discussion between the military commanders should cover all the remaining face-off points, including Gogra, Hot Springs and Depsang Plains.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a press release in New Delhi after the meeting, stating that the two sides agreed that the military commanders should discuss all the remaining issues during the next meeting and “seek a mutually acceptable solution”. “There was also an understanding that both sides will continue to ensure stability on the ground and neither side will take any unilateral action that could increase tension.”

Jaishankar and Wang held talks on the sideline of a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the capital of Tajikistan.

The statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Government after the meeting however had no reference to the agreement to cover all the remaining face-off points along the LAC in the next round of talks between the military commanders. It quoted Wang reiterating to Jaishankar that China was not responsible for the escalation of tension along its LAC with India. He stressed on China and India gradually shifting from emergency response to normalized management of the boundary in order to ensure that incidents in border areas do not unnecessarily disturb bilateral relations.

New Delhi conveyed to Beijing its disappointment over the lack of progress in talks between the two sides to pull out front-line troops from the remaining face-off points along the LAC after the disengagement on the northern and southern banks of the Pangong Tso lake five months ago.

Jaishankar and Wang on Wednesday agreed that the meeting between the senior commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA should be convened at the earliest.

The diplomats of India and China had agreed during a video conference on June 25 that the military commanders would hold the next – the 12th since the beginning of the stand-off along the LAC in April-May 2020 – round of talks soon. Though almost three weeks passed since the video conference, the Indian Army and the PLA could not yet schedule the meeting.

The External Affairs Minister emphasised during his meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister the need to follow through on the agreement reached during the last meeting between them in Moscow on September 10 last year and complete the process of disengagement of troops, resolving the “remaining issues along the LAC in eastern Ladakh at the earliest”. It was expected that after successful disengagement of troops on both banks of Pangong Tso earlier this year, China would work with India to end the stand-off in other face-off points, Jaishankar told Wang, adding that the “situation in remaining areas”, however, had remained unresolved.

He also noted that both India and China had agreed that a prolongation of the existing situation was not in the interest of either side and was visibly impacting the relationship in a negative manner. He emphasized that maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas had been the foundation for the development of ties between the two neighbouring nations since 1988. China’s attempts to change the status quo last year disregarding its commitments under the 1993 and 1996 agreements with India had inevitably affected ties. He emphasized that it was in mutual interest that the two sides should now work towards early resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC, while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols.

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