India, China hold 18th round of military talks but seems no breakthrough

New Delhi, April 24: The Indian Army and China's People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Sunday held the 18th round of military talks furthering the efforts to normalise the tensions along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. Both the sides have been locked in a border row for almost three years.

 

The two sides last held the Corps Commander-level talks in December 2022 to discuss outstanding issues along the border. Despite disengagement from Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra (PP-17A) and Hot Springs (PP-15), the Indian and Chinese armies still have more than 60,000 troops each and advanced weaponry deployed in the Ladakh theatre.

 

Though Indian and Chinese armies have held 18 rounds of talks so far, tensions at Depsang in Daulet Beg Oldi sector and Charding Nullah Junction (CNJ) in Demchok sector are still on the negotiating table.

 

Apart from this, there was no official statement on the LAC talks till the time this report was filed.

 

The talks come ahead of the Chinese defence minister’s upcoming visit to India for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting to be held in New Delhi on April 27-28.

Chinese defence minister Li Shangfu and Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu are expected to hold bilateral meetings with their Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh on April 27, while the main SCO defence ministers’ meeting will be held a day later.

At their last meeting in December 2022, the two sides agreed to maintain “security and stability on the ground in the Western Sector” of the LAC. “The two sides agreed to stay in close contact and maintain dialogue through military and diplomatic channels and work out a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest,” a statement said. That meeting took place just 11 days after several Indian and Chinese soldiers were injured in a clash along LAC at Yangtse, located near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

 

Twenty Indian soldiers martyred in the seven-hour deadly conflict near Patrolling Point 14 in Galwan Valley. According to India’s assessment, PLA’s casualties were twice as many as Indian Army's though Beijing officially claimed that only four Chinese soldiers were killed.

On April 19, Singh had expressed confidence in the Indian Army to handle any contingency along the country’s border with China even as he said talks would continue for peaceful resolution of the lingering row in the Ladakh sector, and disengagement and de-escalation were the best way forward.