Indian foreign secretary and foreign minister claims breakthrough With China on border patrolling

India claims it has reached an arrangement with China on patrolling by the two sides along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh. China has not corroborated this claim

 

By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 22nd Oct 24

 

India’s top diplomat, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, revealed on Monday that India and China had reached an arrangement on patrolling by the two sides along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh.

 

Diplomatic and military negotiations have been on-going since May 2020, when the Chinese military, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), intruded in large numbers into five areas that had traditionally been claimed and patrolled by the Indian Army.

 

In fierce clashes between the two sides in the Galwan river valley in June 2020, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in action. An indeterminate number of Chinese soldiers were also killed or injured.

 

In negotiations since then, the two sides claim to have resolved disagreements over the alignment of the LAC in three areas – the Galwan valley; Hot Springs – Gogra, and the Pangong Lake area.

 

Misri’s statement today apparently pertains to Depsang and Demchok – the remaining two areas where the PLA remains in possession of Indian territory. These constitute the bulk of the disputed area.

 

If China is accommodating on Depsang and Demchok, a resolution of the Sino-India territorial dispute in Eastern Ladakh would be a possibility.

 

However, the Indian statement about a settlement in Depsang and Demchok has not been corroborated from Beijing by officials from China’s Foreign Ministry or Ministry of National Defence.

 

Misri said that several rounds of diplomatic and military negotiations over the past few weeks have resulted in an agreement on "patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had risen in these areas in 2020".

 

This development came ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia on Tuesday to attend the BRICS summit – the acronym for a group of states comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS).

 

Although there has been no official announcement, Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping may talk bilaterally on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. However, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, when asked in Beijing whether a meeting between Xi and Modi was likely, responded with a noncommittal “We will keep you posted if anything comes up.”

 

In the most recent developments in September 2022, Indian and Chinese troops staged a mutual withdrawal from the Gogra-Hot Springs area in Ladakh. Even so, Chinese soldiers remained in possession of large swathes of Indian territory in the Depsang plains and in Demchok in southern Ladakh.

 

China’s possession of Indian territory in the Depsang area is particularly egregious. First, this is the northernmost tip of India; second, the PLA has intruded most deeply into this sector, advancing as much as 15 kilometres into Indian-patrolled territory.

 

Indian generals, in their multiple rounds of talks with their Chinese counterparts, had demanded full disengagement from territory that India had held and patrolled for decades in Eastern Ladakh. New Delhi maintains that a restoration of the pre-May 2020 status quo was essential for restoration of peace and tranquillity.

 

In early October, Indian Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi had claimed that the two sides had plucked the "low-hanging fruits" and now needed to address the difficult situations. He stated that there was "positive signalling" from the diplomatic engagement and further progress was dependent on the military commanders of the two countries.