During the 13th round of Corps Commander level talks with China in Moldo-Chushul on Sunday (10 October), the Indian Army said in a statement no forward movement was made on the issue of disengagement at the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh.
After the talks, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China accused India of making “unreasonable and unrealistic demands,” and according to the Communist Parties People’s Daily the spokesperson of China’s Western Theatre Command said, “India still insisted on the unreasonable and unrealistic demands, which made the negotiations more difficult,”.
“China hopes the Indian side will not misjudge the situation, cherish the hard-won situation in the China-India border areas, show sincerity and take actions, and work with China to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the border areas,” the spokesperson added.
However, before the talks on Sunday, there were reports that the two sides were close to a deal on disengagement of troops in the Hot Springs area or Patrolling Point 15, which lies around 30 km north of Gogra. But this is not new because before talks China always talks of disengagement but after the meeting, it blames the lack of progress on India.
The Indian statement reads that the Chinese side did not come up with any “forward looking proposals” on the issue of disengagement and was “not agreeable” to India’s “constructive suggestions”
“The meeting thus did not result in resolution of the remaining areas,” the statement issued by the Indian Army read with regards to the resolution of issues at the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh.
However, both India and China have agreed to maintain communications and also to maintain stability, and the statement further reads, “It is our expectation that the Chinese side will take into account the overall perspective of bilateral relations and will work towards early resolution of the remaining issues while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols.”.
China has been building shelters and other infrastructure to sustain its deployments at breakneck speed at a time when the ‘LoCisation’ of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) looks increasingly inevitable.
Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane said, “if they continue to stay there through the second winter, it definitely means that we will be in a kind of LC (Line of Control) situation (referring to the Indian and Pakistani deployments on the LoC), though not an active LC as is there on the western front,”.
On China’s continuous development of infrastructure to maintain its deployments along the LAC, General Naravane said at the Indian Today conclave said, “Yes, it is a matter of concern that the large-scale build-up has occurred and continues to be in place, and to sustain that kind of a build-up, there has been an equal amount of infrastructure development on the Chinese side,”.
General Naravane made it very clear that if the PLA chose to stay so will the Indian Army and will be keeping a close watch on all these developments.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.