‘Reached some consensus with India’: China on Ladakh disengagement process

The Chinese Defence Ministry’s statement and the meeting with the Indian envoy came on the day The Indian Express reported that India and China had made “significant progress” in narrowing their gap on pending issues along LAC in eastern Ladakh. This included exploring the contours of a possible solution that factors in their respective pre-April 2020 positions while agreeing to address existing issues in Arunachal Pradesh.

Sources said this might imply that Indian troops, whose access to certain patrolling points along the LAC in eastern Ladakh were blocked either by Chinese troops or due to the implementation of the buffer zones created in the backdrop of disengagement at specific friction points, might be close to accessing them again.

In Beijing, Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defence, told a media briefing that under the guidance of their two leaders, China and India have maintained communication with each other through diplomatic and military channels including between the two Foreign Ministers and China’s Foreign Minister and India’s National Security Advisor and through the border consultation mechanisms.

Both China and India through talks were “able to reduce their differences and build some consensus besides agreeing to strengthen dialogue to accommodate each other’s legitimate concerns,” Zhang said.

“The two sides agreed to reach a resolution at an early date acceptable to both sides,” he said.

He was replying to a question on the talks between the two countries on disengagement from the remaining friction points, especially Demchok and Depsang. to end the over four-year-long military standoff in eastern Ladakh resulting in a freeze of relations between the two countries.

Zhang referred to the meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi as well as the recent meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting in Russia between Wang and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Top officials had confirmed to The Indian Express that the development took place during the latest diplomatic and political level talks between both sides. The delegation for the 31st Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) talks, held on August 29 in Beijing, also had representatives from the Indian military.

The 22nd round of military talks between India and China at the Corps Commanders-level is now expected to be held shortly to chalk out the modalities, including a timeframe, of the deployment of troops from either side based on the mutual agreement reached.

At present, troops deployed along the LAC continue to be on alert, an official said, adding that they, however, are avoiding any confrontation which may create a trust deficit and delay redeployment plans. As a confidence-building measure, local commanders of both sides on the ground have also been meeting to avoid clashes.

Friction points such as Galwan Valley, north and south banks of Pangong Tso, Gogra-Hot Springs area have seen some resolution with buffer zones. The legacy issues of Depsang Plains and Demchok remain – troops at Depsang Plains were blocked from accessing patrol points.

In his reply to a question, Zhang did not comment on the progress of the disengagement from the remaining areas including Depsang and Demchok but said both sides will continue to consolidate the outcomes.

“We will continue to consolidate the outcomes we have reached and respect bilateral agreements and confidence-building measures to safeguard peace and tranquillity at the border,” he said.

On September 12, Jaishankar had said that about 75 per cent of the “disengagement problems” with China have been “sorted out” but the “bigger issue” has been the increasing militarisation of the border. Subsequently, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the troops have disengaged at four places in eastern Ladakh, including Galwan Valley, and the situation along the borders was stable.

On Wednesday, Jaishankar said in New York, “When I said 75 percent of it has been sorted out – I was asked in a way to quantify – it’s only of the disengagement. So that’s one part of the problem. The main issue right now is the patrolling. You know, how do we, both of us, patrol up to the Line of Actual Control.”

The patrolling arrangements after 2020 have been disturbed, he said. “So we have been able to sort out much of the disengagement, the friction points, but some of the patrolling issues need to be resolved.”

“Once we deal with the disengagement, there is the larger issue as both of us have brought a very large number of troops up to the border. So there is what we call the de-escalation issue, and then there is the larger, the next step is really, how do you deal with the rest of the relationship?” Jaishankar said.

– With PTI in Beijing