India and China have made a breakthrough in military standoff prevailing at Line of Actual Control from last 4 years post Galwan Valley incident in June 2024. India’s Ministry of External Affairs confirms that the pending issue of patrolling along the line of actual control is resolved due to sustained diplomatic and military talks. The development is seen a major breakthrough before the BRICS Summit 2024 at Kazan where Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are likely to have a bilateral meeting first ever after Galwan Valley incident. India had lost 20 of its bravehearts whereas China only confirmed 4 PLA casualties. PM Modi will depart from India on early morning of 22nd October and will return on 23rd October. A source confirmed his bilateral meeting with President Xi Jinping on condition of anonymity.
Shailesh Kumar, National Defence
New Delhi, 21 October 2024
Meeting between PM Modi and President Xi Jinping may result in further announcement of de-escalation and disengagement on frictional points. The military stand off at Depsang and Demchok was a matter of concern for India. National Defence source in Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that the latest breakthrough came through the existing mechanism of border talks. India and China have Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India–China Border Affairs. WMCC talks are led by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese side is represented by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Vikram Mistri, Foreign Secretary of India said, “Over the last several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other in a variety of forums. As a result of these discussions, agreement has been arrived at 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 arisen in these areas in 2020. We will be taking the next steps on this”, Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary of India”.
Indian Army and Chinese PLA had 21 rounds of corps commander level talks while there have been total 31st WMCC meetings so far from its inception. Both countries had WMCC meeting virtually soon after Galwan clash. The latest 31st WMCC meeting was held on 29th August 2024 in Beijing. According to MEA, Gourangalal Das, Joint Secretary (East Asia) from the Ministry of External Affairs led the Indian delegation. The Chinese delegation was led by Hong Liang, Director General of the Boundary & Ocean Affairs Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Despite such lengthy negotiations that resulted in the mutual withdrawal of troops from certain confrontation sites along the LAC, such as Galwan Valley, the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso, Gogra Post, and Hot Springs, the LAC standoff remained unresolved.
“PM Modi to depart tomorrow for Kazan for 16th BRICS Summit”. The agenda of Summit is, ‘Strengthening Multilateralism for Just Global Development and Security’… Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary. #BRICSSummit2024, #Kazan, #PMModiAtBRICS,#NationalDefence, @MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/iUb8yBXnnr
— NationalDefence (@NDIndiaFirst) October 21, 2024
PM Modi is expected to have bilateral meetings on the sidelines of BRICS Summit in Kazan presently being worked out. MEA will update as they finalized.
…Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary. #BRICSSummit2024, #Kazan, #PMModiAtBRICS,#NationalDefence, @MEAIndia #ModiXiMeeting— NationalDefence (@NDIndiaFirst) October 21, 2024
“Indian and Chinese diplomats and military leaders have been in close coordination and we have reached an agreement to resolve border stand off”, Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary on possible meeting of PM Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping #BRICSSummit2024, #Kazan #ModiXi
— NationalDefence (@NDIndiaFirst) October 21, 2024
“Border stand offs at various locations that arose in the wake of 2020 conflict at India China border and patrolling issues have been resolved due to discussions in last few weeks”… Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary clarifies.
— NationalDefence (@NDIndiaFirst) October 21, 2024
India has been advocating for peace and tranquillity along the border regions by holding military commanders-level talks, and the National Security Advisor level meetings. From the Indian side, NSA Ajit Doval met multiple times with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Separately, EAM S Jaishankar also held bilateral meetings with Wang Yi. Before the latest patrolling issue resolution, China has asserted that the mutual withdrawal of troops by the PLA and the Indian Army from Patrolling Point 15 (Gogra-Hotsprings area) in September 2022 signified a return to normalcy along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held bilateral talks on the sidelines of a meeting of the BRICS high-ranking officials responsible for security matters in St Petersburg in Russia on 12th September this year where they discussed the progress made in the recent consultations on border issues. The same day, EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar also echoed nearly the same statement. “Roughly 75 per cent of the disengagement problems” with China are sorted out,”. At that time on the issue of lingering border row in eastern Ladakh, Dr. Jaishankar underscored that the bigger issue has been the increasing militarization of the frontier.
The latest and major breakthough is likely to thaw the ice in frozen relationship of both the nations. PM Modi and President Xi Jinping would now have the opportunity to resolve LAC stand off that arose post Galwan clash, when they sit across the table in Kazan. Both the leaders earlier had opportunities for brief interaction on two occasions— One, on the sidelines of the G-20 summit at Bali in Indonesia in November 2022 and then again during the BRICS summit at Johannesburg in South Africa in August 2023. When asked if the development can be seen as the beginning of “New Era” in India- China relations, source say that would be too much an exaggeration.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs on 12th September had said that both India and China agreed to work with “urgency” and “redouble” their efforts to achieve complete disengagement in the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh. EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar and MEA were consistent in echoing the Indian sentiments that complete disengagement and de-escalation is essential for the return of normalcy in bilateral ties. Now the onus of normalcy in ties lies with top leaders of both nations meeting in Kazan, Russia.
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