Rajnath Singh meets with Chinese Defense Minister General Fenghe (PTI image)
NEW DELHI: In an attempt to break the deadlock in the ongoing military confrontation in the east Ladakh Since early May, India and China held their first high-level political meeting on Friday, on the sidelines of the defense ministers meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Moscow.
There was no official news about the outcome of the meeting between the defense minister. Rajnath singh and his Chinese counterpart, Gen Wei Fenghe, which started at 9.30pm Indian time, until late at night on Friday.
Singh is known to have reiterated India’s demand to restore the status quo ante.
While no progress was expected from the meeting, the conversation sets the stage for what will likely be a more substantive meeting between the foreign minister. S Jaishankar and its counterpart, Wang Yi, on September 10, also on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of the SCO in Moscow.
Earlier in the day, attacking China without naming it, Singh told the SCO meeting that a peaceful, stable and secure region “requires a climate of trust and cooperation, non-aggression, respect for international rules and norms, sensitivity towards the interest of others and the peaceful resolution of differences ”.
Singh said that all member countries of the SCO, which is home to more than 40% of the world’s population, should work towards this goal. “If I can borrow an idea articulated by our Prime Minister in a different context, our goal should be ‘Security and Growth for everyone in the (Sagar) Region,’” he said.
The minister reaffirmed India’s commitment to the evolution of a global security architecture that will be “open, transparent, inclusive, rule-based and anchored in international law.”
The bilateral meeting with China, requested by General Wei after India’s proactive military moves in the Pangong Tso area, took place at the Metropole Hotel, where Singh is staying.
Singh was accompanied by Defense Secretary Ajay Kumar, Deputy Secretary (East Asia) in Foreign Ministry Naveen Srivastava and Indian Ambassador to Russia D Bala Venkatesh Varma, among others.
India has long been demanding that China restore the status quo as it existed in April by withdrawing its forces from the standoff sites in Pangong Tso, Gogra and Depsang, while reducing its military build-up along the Royal Line of Control.
But several rounds of military and diplomatic talks so far have failed to defuse the situation, and high-level political intervention is now seen as the best option to resolve matters.
With winter rapidly approaching in the high altitude region along the LACQUERWith thousands of rival troops, tanks, artillery cannons and other weapons systems deployed in close proximity to each other, both India and China would like to get out of the military mess.
The military standoff, now in its fifth month, has further escalated since last weekend. Indian troops undertook a pre-emptive military maneuver on August 29-30 to occupy multiple heights in the Chushul sector, from the southern shore of Pangong Tso and Spanggur Gap to Rezang La and Reqin La. Furious at being flanked, the People’s Liberation Army has deployed additional forces throughout the Chushul sector.
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