Indian, Chinese armies set for Ladakh meeting

NEW DELHI: Indian and Chinese army delegations, led by corps commanders, will hold a meeting at Chushul in Ladakh on Tuesday in their third attempt to make some headway in implementing a daunting disengagement plan aimed at gradually reducing tensions aggravated by a significant military build-up on both sides of the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC), people familiar with developments said on Monday, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The two delegations, led by an Indian lieutenant general and his Chinese counterpart, last met on June 22 --- exactly a week after the brutal Galwan Valley clash --and hammered out a consensus on disengaging from friction points along the disputed border.

The “mutual consensus to disengage” from all “friction areas” reached a week ago at the meeting between Lieutenant General Harinder Singh, commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, and Major General Liu Lin, commander of the South Xinjiang military region, has not resulted in any form of disengagement or thinning of the military build-up by rival forces in the region, said one of persons cited above.

DISCUSSIONS WILL BE AIMED AT DISENGAGEMENT ALONG BOUNDARY, SAID OFFICIALS

In what was seen as a rare meeting, the two senior officers first met on June 6 to reduce border tensions. The limited military disengagement that began in some friction areas after the first meeting was derailed after the bloodshed in Galwan Valley on June 15. On Tuesday, the Indian side is expected to reiterate its demand for the pullback of Chinese troops from the friction points and seek the restoration of status quo ante (early April) in key areas including Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley and the strategic Depsang plains.

Experts were not optimistic about what the latest meeting could potentially achieve, especially against the backdrop of continuing Chinese military buildup observed on the ground and captured by satellite imagery. “The purpose of these meetings is to initiate disengagement on the ground at the military level,” said Ltt Gen BS Jaswal (retd), a former Northern Army commander.