China’s Yi confirms Russia visit, to meet Jaishankar

EAM S JAISHANKAR WILL REMIND HIS CHINESE COUNTERPART TO IMPLEMENT PAST BILATERAL AGREEMENTS INCLUDING KEEPING MINIMUM FORCES NEAR LAC

NEW DELHI: With Chinese state councillor and foreign minister Wang Yi confirming his arrival in Moscow on Wednesday evening, a bilateral meeting with Indian external affairs minister S Jaishankar to discuss ways and means to resolve the military standoff in Ladakh on Thursday is confirmed. The two leaders are meeting on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) ministerial meetings hosted by the Russian Federation. The timing of their meeting on Thursday is being finalised.

While Jaishankar will arrive in Moscow on Tuesday evening with desk officers of the China division, Wang will reach the next day to discuss the border escalation in Ladakh.

The much awaited meeting of foreign ministers is expected to record forward movement towards complete disengagement and de-escalation of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), with the Indian side insistent that China follow bilateral agreements and protocols in place since 1993.

Although Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh met his Chinese counterpart Gen Wei Fenghe on the same platform on September 5, the talks did not yield any results, with both sides merely stating their formal positions.

The meeting took place after Indian Army troops pre-empted PLA aggression on the south bank of Pangong Tso on August 29-30 and occupied the Rezang La ridgeline without either yielding to the Chinese show of military strength or allowing them to cross the Indian perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

During the meeting, EAM Jaishankar will remind his Chinese counterpart to implement past bilateral agreements in letter and spirit including keeping minimum forces along the 3,488 km Line of Actual Control (LAC).

He will also demand that China’s PLA forces restore status quo ante at Gogra-hot Springs and Finger 4 relief feature on the north bank of Pangong Tso.

Since the Indian pre-emptive move on August 29-30, the Xi Jinping regime has been asking the Indian Army to withdraw from their new positions south of Pangong Tso.

It is understood that the Chinese Communist Party government’s move to deflect domestic discontent by invoking nationalism in Ladakh and the South China Sea has not worked.

According to China watchers, the PLA aggression in Ladakh will continue till such time CCP general secretary XI is able to control the internal dissent, whether it be on account of language as in Inner Mongolia, floods, the economy or the coronavirus disease, which originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.