NEW DELHI: The sixth round of high-level military talks between India and China in eastern Ladakh is likely to take place in the coming days, even as the fast approaching winter has started to take a toll on rival deployed soldiers in the high altitude region.
The operational situation, future strategy and agenda for the military talks were discussed at a 90-minute meeting of the high-powered China Study Group (CSG) on Friday.
The meeting also discussed the various contingencies and preparations in the coming days, with the Army preparing for the long term through a massive “advanced winter stockpile” operation along the border in eastern Ladakh.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Defense Rajnath singh, foreign minister S Jaishankar, national security advisor Ajit doval, the Chief of Defense Staff, General Bipin Rawat and the Chief of Army, General MM Naravane, among others.
“There has been some delay in the talks at the corps commander level because China was not backtracking with an exact date. But it will take place now. India will continue to push for it to disengage from sticking points as a starting point, followed by troop downsizing and withdrawing, ”said a senior official.
“Our position is that the People’s Liberation Army (EPL) has been the aggressor when starting the confrontations. We have just responded with the preventive maneuver to occupy the heights on the southern shore of the Pangong Tso-Chushul area from August 29 to 30, ”he added.
The sixth round of talks between the 14th Corps commander, Lieutenant General Harinder Singh and the head of the southern Xinjiang military district, Major General Liu Lin, which last met on August 2, will take place after four incidents in which warning shots were exchanged in Pangong Tso-Chushul between August. September 29 and 8.
Although neither party has taken aggressive action over the past 10 days, severe weather and lack of oxygen at elevations over 15,000 feet in the area have started to take a toll.
With temperatures already below freezing, several Chinese soldiers have been evacuated on stretchers from the area since the beginning of this month. “The first evacuations in the ranks of the PLA were detected on the south bank of Pangong Tso on September 1 and 2. There have been a few more evacuations in the ‘Finger’ area on the north shore, ”said another officer.
“Our soldiers are better acclimated and used to prolonged winter deployments. But they are not made of steel. We will also begin to suffer at some point, ”he added.
Indian soldiers are taught to “survive first, then fight” in high altitude areas like the Siachen-Saltoro Ridge Glacier region. But pulmonary edema, brain edema, hypothermia, hypoxia, and high-altitude freezing can affect even the most battle-hardened soldiers.
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