Two months after India and China announced a “patrolling arrangement” and the subsequent disengagement of troops from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, the Ministry of Defence today described the overall situation along the LAC as “stable but sensitive”.
Releasing its “year-end review for 2024”, the MoD said the consensus achieved included disengagement and relocation of troops from the friction points of Depsang and Demchok. The 3,488-km-long LAC running all along the Himalayan ridgeline on an east-west axis is the de facto boundary between the two countries.
Following prolonged negotiations at diplomatic and military levels, a broad consensus was achieved on October 21 to “restore ground situation based on the principles of equal and mutual security”.
Currently, all positions of troops blocking the patrol routes have been removed by both sides and joint verification has been completed. “Patrolling activity has commenced to ‘traditional patrolling’ areas in Depsang and Demchok,” it said.
Since the announcement was made in October, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. On December 18, Special Representatives on the ‘boundary issue, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and Wang Yi, met in Beijing.
The Ministry of External Affairs said the Special Representatives reiterated the importance of maintaining a political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship while seeking a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable framework for settlement of the boundary question.
The resumption of Special Representative-level talks was agreed upon when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS summit at Kazan in Russia in October.
India has already suggested to China that a graded three-step process at the military end was needed to resolve the LAC dispute. The first was disengagement of troops within close proximity of each other in grey zones along the LAC and getting back to positions as on April 2020. This was done by October-end. The next two steps —de-escalation and de-induction—would entail pulling back troops and equipment to the pre-April 2020 levels.
Among the remaining issues to be resolved is the build-up of a large number of troops, tanks, missiles, guns, drones and fighter jets on either side of the LAC.
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