Leh: The high-level military talks between India and China lasted around 12-and-a-half hours on Sunday as the Indian side continued to propose early disengagement of troops from eastern Ladakh. This was the 16th round of talks between the two parties and the first one after the gap of around four months. The military standoff in eastern Ladakh started in April 2020 and India also expressed its wish to restore the status quo ante in the region which was disrupted by the conflict. People familiar with the developments told PTI that there was no official word on the outcome of the talks.
The Indian delegation comprised of Lt-General Anindya Sengupta, the commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps and South Xinjiang Military District Chief Major General Yang Lin represented China.
According to sources, PTI said that the Indian side spoke about resolving the issues Depsang Bulge and Demchok along with an overall call for disengagement. They also said that the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) will be crucial in strengthening the overall bilateral relations.
“Recalling the disengagement achieved in some friction areas, the external affairs minister reiterated the need to sustain the momentum to complete disengagement from all the remaining areas to restore peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” S Jaishankar, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), earlier said after a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on July this year.
Following the clashes in May 2021, both sides started to deploy more and more forces in the eastern Ladakh region and currently, both have around 50,000 to 60,000 troops posted along the LAC.
