India and China are expected to hold the seventh round of corps commander-level talks in eastern Ladakh next week in their latest attempt to reduce military friction along the disputed border, officials familiar with said Thursday. events.
The two countries have been locked in a border row for nearly five months, and their armies have arranged for a long haul in the Ladakh sector with no resolution to the dispute in sight.
Indian and Chinese diplomats held talks on the border clash on Wednesday with little to show beyond a commitment to implement the decisions made in the latest round of military talks on maintaining stability along the controversial Royal Line of Control (ALC ).
The military talks on September 21 remained inconclusive, with Indian negotiators strongly demanding complete disengagement at all hot spots and restoration of the status quo ante as the only approach to de-escalation, with China calling on India to withdraw its soldiers from the strategic heights on the south bank of Pangong. Tso to reduce friction.
The two sides, however, made some progress.
According to a joint statement, released in New Delhi and Beijing on September 22, the two sides agreed to stop sending more troops to the front line and hold a seventh round of commander-level talks “as soon as possible, take practical steps to adequately resolve problems on the ground and jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border area ”
China’s recent assertion that it complies with LAC proposed by Prime Minister Zhou Enlai to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1959 has complicated the border line in eastern Ladakh and cast doubt on Beijing’s intention to restore the status quo before early April and reduce the escalating conflict, officials said.
A changing of the guard is scheduled to take place in the Leh-based 14 Corps, and its current commander, Lt. Gen. Harinder Singh, will move out shortly after completing his one-year term. Singh addresses Dehradun as commander of the Indian Military Academy.
Singh will be replaced by Lieutenant General PGK Menon. He was present with Singh at the talks on September 21. The changing of the guard will take place in mid-October.
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