India, China fail to decide date for talks

NEW DELHI: India and China have been unable to agree on a date for the next round of military talks on disengagement and de-escalation in the Ladakh sector because of Beijing’s steadfast opposition to New Delhi’s proposal that all remaining friction points on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) be handled in one go.

Since the 13th round of talks between senior military commanders of the two sides was held at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on October 10 last year, the Indian side has sent several proposals for the next round of talks along with agenda items, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.

In these proposals, the Indian side maintained that all friction points between Depsang and Chumar should be collectively tackled in the talks between the military commanders to ensure a comprehensive disengagement and de-escalation in the Ladakh sector of the LAC, the people in the know said.

“The Chinese are not agreeing to this. Their response to every proposal from the Indian side has been different. Their goalposts keep changing and we aren’t even sure which of their proposals should be taken seriously,” one of the people cited above said.

Beijing’s dithering has continued despite a decision made at the last meeting of the IndiaChina Working Mechanism for

INDIA MAINTAINED THAT ALL FRICTION POINTS BETWEEN DEPSANG AND CHUMAR SHOULD BE COLLECTIVELY TACKLED

Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on border affairs on November 18 that the 14th round talks between military commanders should be held at “an early date to achieve the objective of complete disengagement from all the friction points along the LAC... in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols”.

At the 13th round of talks between military commanders, the people said, the two sides were close to forward movement on disengagement at Hot Spring.

However, the Chinese side was represented by the deputy to the corps commander, who stayed away, and he was not authorised to make a decision, they added.