The India-China Showdown in Ladakh: Another Round of Military Commanders Will Meet Soon; what is different this time?

The stage is being set for the seventh round of the India-China military commanders meeting next week, where in addition to the top military commanders from the two sides, once again the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MEA) will also be present. With tensions growing between India and China, the talks are scheduled for October 12 and will take place as winter has already started to set in in eastern Ladakh. Both sides have deployed large numbers of troops and heavy machinery along the Royal Line of Control (LAC).

what is different this time?

This round of talks is important as it is happening after China recently raised the question of the 1959 claim line.

This claim, if raised during the meeting next Tuesday, will be flatly rejected by the Indian army.

This claim made by China projecting the 1959 claim line as LAC has already been rejected by MEA. According to MEA, “the 1959 LAC defined unilaterally has never been accepted by India.”

The next meeting will be the last meeting of the 14th Corps Commander, Lt. Gen. Harinder Singh, who will soon hand over the post to Lt. Gen. PGK Menon next week. Lieutenant Gen Singh will take over as commander of the Indian Military Academy (IMA).

Who will attend the October 12 meeting?

During the seventh round of talks between India and China, where to head the agenda is to resolve the current five-month confrontation: Lieutenant General Harinder Singh (Commander of 14th Corps), Commander of 14th Corps appoints Lieutenant General Menon and Assistant Secretary Naveen Srivastava (East Asia), MEA.

In the sixth round, the same officers were present and the marathon round of talks had ended inconclusively.

India’s focus will be on disconnecting all friction points. China has been insisting that the disengagement should occur only on the southern shore and not only on the southern shore of Pangong Tso.

As previously reported, on the intervening night of August 29-30, specialized units and soldiers from the Indian Army had occupied critical heights along the southern bank of Pangong Tso.

This is the first time that 50,000 soldiers from both countries have been deployed in the region where temperatures will drop from 40 to 50 degrees Celsius. Heavy artillery and support equipment have already been deployed, the Indian Army and IAF are already in operational readiness.