India-China: Foreign Minister S Jaishankar to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi today
New Delhi:
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is likely to meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi today for bilateral talks aimed at easing tension after an increase in hostilities along the Royal Line of Control (LAC ), the de facto border between the two nations.
The foreign ministers are in Moscow to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The two leaders will also meet at a luncheon of the Russia-India-China (RIC) Foreign Ministers.
The Jaishankar-Wang talks will take place in the context of a new clash on the southern bank of Pangong Tso on Monday, when Chinese soldiers armed with spears and rifles attempted to approach Indian outposts in an apparent attempt to force a physical fighting along the lines of the June 14 confrontation in the Galwan Valley, in which 20 Indian soldiers died for the country. Shots were fired for the first time throughout LAC in 45 years.
India said Chinese soldiers, forced to retreat, fired into the air. China claimed that Indian soldiers had fired warning shots after “crossing the LAC”, which India strongly denied.
Jaishankar last week described the situation in eastern Ladakh as “very serious” and said it requires “a very, very deep conversation” between the two sides at the political level.
The latest incident took place three days after Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, met on the sidelines of another SCO meeting in Moscow last Friday. Rajnath Singh reportedly told Wei that attempts by Chinese troops to unilaterally disrupt the status quo throughout LAC violated bilateral agreements and that Beijing should work with New Delhi for a total disengagement from all areas of friction. , including Pangong Tso.
Indian and Chinese soldiers are locked in a clash in the mountains of eastern Ladakh, along the Royal Line of Control or LAC
Yesterday, the main government sources said that the confrontation “can take any trajectory”, which indicates that the possibility of a conflict, either localized or in the entire region, cannot be ruled out. But sources said there was room for dialogue and compromise at the diplomatic and military level.
While expressing concern about the situation on the ground in southern Pangong, where the Chinese have made several attempts to drive out Indian soldiers who secured key heights, officials said they believed a war situation had not yet emerged.
Despite the situation on the ground, there is hope that “both sides are trying to stop the shooting.”
There have been multiple rounds of talks at the diplomatic and military levels that have resulted in China’s partial withdrawal from the Galwan and North Pangong region, nowhere near India’s expectations after the Chinese moved to areas that were extend from the plains of Depsang, Galwan, Hot Springs, Gogra. , North and South Pangong in May this year.
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