Indian, Chinese militaries hold fresh talks on troop withdrawal in Ladakh

By Esra Tekin

ISTANBUL (AA) - India and China held a fresh round of discussions Monday, with the primary focus on withdrawing their troops from the remaining contentious points in the Ladakh area of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region.

It marked the 19th round of talks at the Corps Commander level which are being held at the Chushul-Moldo border post on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Indian military sources told New Delhi-based PTI news.

The LAC is the de facto border between China and India in the Ladakh area.

The commander of the Indian Army’s 14 Corps stationed in Ladakh’s Leh district and the commander of the South Xinjiang military district led the delegations for the two sides.

The two sides held the 18th round of military discussions on April 23 this year.

The military-level talks come after top Chinese and Indian officials met in South Africa last month, where Beijing conveyed to New Delhi that China was “no threat” to India.

“China and India pose no threat but offer development opportunities for each other," China’s Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi had told Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

The two men held the meeting on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in Johannesburg.

However, Doval told Wang that the situation along the LAC since 2020 had “eroded strategic trust and the public and political basis of the relationship.”

He emphasized the “importance of continuing efforts to fully resolve the situation and restore peace and tranquility in the border areas, so as to remove impediments to normalcy in bilateral relations.”

China and India have remained locked in a standoff along the LAC since May 2020.

In June 2020, at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed in a border clash.