India, China hold talks on next step to ease row

NEW DELHI: Complicated negotiations on kicking off the next stage of disengagement between the Indian and Chinese armies in eastern Ladakh saw senior military commanders from both sides hold an hours-long meeting at Chushul on Tuesday to discuss the road map for further reducing tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), people familiar with the developments said on Tuesday.

The talks that began at 11.30am were in progress when this report was filed.

The focus of the latest round of military talks was to hammer out a consensus on easing tensions in the Finger Area near Pangong Tso and Depsang plains as well as pulling back weapons and equipment from friction points in other sectors, said one of the officials cited above.

“Tricky issues are on the table. Addressing them will take time,” he said.

This was the fourth meeting between the corps commanderranked officers who made previous attempts to reduce tensions along the contested border on June 6, June 22 and June 30.

The previous two meetings went on for up to 11 hours while the first one was the shortest at seven hours.