Both countries stress dialogue to resolve pending issues
New Delhi: Against the backdrop of two expected meetings in the next few weeks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s, India and China on Tuesday, August 15, issued a statement saying the two sides would keep discussing the resolution — at the military commander level — of pending issues along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, a special report by Ajay Banerjee in The Tribune, chandigarh, says.
Sources said differences remain unresolved over withdrawal of troops from Depsang and Charding Nullah near Demchok, especially at ‘bottleneck’ on the eastern edge
A joint statement was issued on Tuesday after the 19th round of India-China Corps Commander Level Meeting was held at Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Indian side on August 13-14.
The Ministry of External Affairs posted the statement on its website that said “the two sides had a positive, constructive and in-depth discussion on the resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC in the Western Sector (eastern Ladakh)”.
They agreed to resolve the remaining issues in an expeditious manner and maintain the momentum of dialogue and negotiations through military and diplomatic channels, the statement said. This would be in line with the guidance provided by the leadership.
Modi and Xi are expected to meet at the BRICS summit (August 22-24) in South Africa followed by the G20 summit in India (September 9-10).
Sources said differences remain unresolved over withdrawal of troops from the Depsang plains areas and Charding Nullah near Demchok.
Mostly the talks are deadlocked over the pending resolution of disputes at Depsang, a 972-sq-km plateau where the two sides have issue over troop positions, especially at ‘bottleneck’ on the eastern edge of Depsang.
India has been objecting to People Liberation Army (PLA) deliberately blocking Indian patrols on this specific patrolling route in Depsang.
Prior to April 2020, Indian patrols used the route, however, the PLA has been craftily using a clause in a 30-year-old border agreement to block them.
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