The tenth round of military talks between India and China, regarding troop disengagement at the border, lasted for around 16 hours from Saturday morning till after midnight on Sunday. Talks at the Corps Commander-level took place at the Moldo border point on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control. The dialogue began at around 10 AM on Saturday and ended at 2 AM on Sunday, according to reports.
The focus of the talks was to take the disengagement process ahead in other friction points like Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang in eastern Ladakh. India has reportedly insisted on a faster disengagement process.
The current talks are in continuation with the earlier bilateral military dialogue held to resolve the situation in Ladakh. This round of talks took place two days after the Indian and Chinese military concluded the disengagement of troops and weapons from north and south banks of Pangong Tso lake after a nearly nine month long military stand-off.
India has maintained all along that disengagement at all the friction points on the India-China border was necessary to de-escalate tensions in the region.
On February 11, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced in Parliament that India and China reached an agreement on disengagement in the North and South banks of Pangong lake that mandates both sides to “cease” forward deployment of troops in a “phased, coordinated and verifiable” manner.
Under the agreement, he said, China will pull back its troops to east of Finger 8 areas in the northern bank of Pangong lake while the Indian personnel will be based at their permanent base at Dhan Singh Thapa Post near Finger 3 in the region. Similar action would take place on the south bank of the lake as well, he added.
In the earlier nine rounds of military talks, India had specifically insisted that Chinese troops retreat from Finger 4 to Finger 8 on the North bank of Pangong Lake. The mountain spurs in the area are referred to as ‘Fingers’.
According to reports, troops on both sides have withdrawn to positions in line with the agreement.
China recently revealed the names of its soldiers who died in the violent June 2020 Galwan Valley clash as a face-saving measure and to stoke nationalist feelings among its people.
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