Corp commander-level meet: India, China hold 20th round of talks on border row

The latest round of talks comes nearly two months after the 19th round of military talks held in August where India had pressed for access to all old patrolling points along the LAC. The talks were held about a week before the BRICS leaders’ summit where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had met.

“Both sides exchanged views in a frank, open and constructive manner for an early and mutually-acceptable resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC in the Western Sector, in accordance with the guidance provided by the national leadership of the two countries, and building on the progress made in the last round of Corps Commanders’ Meeting held on 13-14 August 2023,” the MEA said in a statement issued late Wednesday.

As per sources, disengagement of the troops deployed by both sides along the LAC and overall de-escalation of troops in the Ladakh region was part of the agenda as was adherence to existing protocols and sharing of patrol information to prevent clashes on ground.

There has been no concrete forward movement in the last few rounds of talks on resolution of legacy issues or an overall de-escalation of troops in eastern Ladakh.

After the 19th round of military talks in August, there was also a Major General level meeting held between both sides to chalk out finer details of the points discussed in the corps commander level talks.

Commanders on the ground were also working on possible scenarios for limited disengagement at certain mutually-accepted points along the boundary. However, any such plan has not yet been implemented.

This will be the fourth consecutive winter marking the military standoff between India and China which began ahead of May 2020.

In September last year, both sides pulled back troops to disengage from Patrolling Point-15 in the Gogra-Hot Springs area of Eastern Ladakh, marking a step forward in the military standoff between the two sides which began in May 2020.

Friction points such as Galwan Valley, north and south banks of Pangong Tso and the Gogra-Hot Springs area have seen some resolution in the last three years with the creation of buffer zones. There is, however, yet to be any disengagement at the legacy friction points such as Depsang Plains and Demchok. Around 50,000-60,000 troops remain deployed on both sides of the India-China border.