India-China: Talks involving officers of Lieutenant General level on LAC ended at 2 am

New Delhi:

The latest high-level talks between senior military officers of India and China to discuss the border tension along the Line of Actual Control lasted 15 hours, sources have said. The fourth round of talks involving officers of Lieutenant General level on disengagement along the LAC ended at 2 am, sources said. The marathon meeting started at 11:30 am on Tuesday at Chushul on the Indian side of the LAC, the de-factor border.

The actual content of the discussions between the Indian Army and the Chinese are yet to be made public.

The Indian delegation was led by Lieutenant General Harinder Singh, commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, while Major General Liu Lin, commander of the South Xinjiang military region, was led the Chinese side, news agency PTI reported.

India and China have been discussing about disengagement from LAC areas including Pangong Tso and Depsang, besides withdrawal of forces from the rear bases in a time-bound manner, sources have said.

India has been insisting on “total restoration” of status quo in all of eastern Ladakh that existed before a violent face-off at Galwan valley in mid-June. Twenty soldiers laid down their lives for India, while 45 Chinese soldiers were killed or injured.

The fourth round of talks was held days after the first phase of the disengagement process began. The Chinese Army has already completed pulling back troops from Gogra, Hot Springs and Galwan valley, and significantly thinned down its presence in the ridgeline of “Finger Four” at Pangong Tso in the last one week as demanded by India.

The first round talks were held on June 6, during which both sides finalised an agreement to disengage gradually from all the standoff points, beginning with Galwan valley.

However, the situation turned bad following the Galwan valley clash on June 15 and the two sides significantly bolstered deployments in most areas along the LAC.

The second round of talks took place on June 22.

With inputs from PTI