Indian and Chinese military leaders met in another attempt to end more than two years of confrontation along their disputed border that led to bloody clashes in 2020, the Indian Defense Ministry said in a statement, AP reported.
The 17th round of talks took place at the Chushul-Moldo meeting point on the Chinese side, the statement said. There was no comment from the Chinese side. Indian Army Commander Manoj Pande said last month that there had been no significant reduction of Chinese troops in Ladakh. According to him, the situation on the border was stable but unpredictable.
However, the meeting between the army commanders is expected to reduce tensions, as it came less than two weeks after another clash between soldiers in the eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which left several people injured on both sides. Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament that no Indian soldiers were seriously injured, and troops from both sides were withdrawn from the area shortly thereafter.
Although neither side reported how many people were wounded in the Dec. 9 clash, Indian media reported that at least six Indian soldiers were injured. In June 2020, a fierce standoff escalated into a hand-to-hand confrontation involving batons, stones and fists that left 20 Indian soldiers dead in the Galwan sector of Ladakh. China says four of its soldiers were killed in the incident.
India claims that China occupies 38,000 square kilometers of its territory on the Aksai Chin Plateau, which India considers part of Ladakh, where the current standoff is taking place. India noted that any unilateral change by Beijing to the status quo on the border is unacceptable.
Both countries have deployed tens of thousands of soldiers along the de facto border, supported by artillery, tanks and fighter jets. Since last February, both India and China have withdrawn troops from some locations on the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso, Gogra, and the Galvan Valley, but continue to keep additional troops as part of a tiered deployment.
The line of effective control separates Chinese and Indian-held territory from Ladakh in the west to the eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China fully claims. India and China fought a border war in 1962.
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