Greater Noida (Defence Desk), December 13: What could be a turning point in the history of the diplomatic relations between India and China, if sources are to be believed, there soon will be held a meeting wherein the representatives from both sides are expected to meet.
This will be the highest-level diplomatic meet between the two countries and India’s national security advisor Ajit Doval and China’s foreign minister Wang Yi are expected to represent their respective sides and put their concerns upfront.
This meeting is also crucial as the patrolling at points in Depsang and Demchok continues after the agreement between India and China. Defence sources suggest that the special representatives from both sides may meet this month only, around Christmas.
The development is seen as something significant as far as the India China bilateral and diplomatic relations are concerned. Also, because the last time any such meeting took place was in December 2019.
What makes this more eventful is the Corps Commander level meeting that will follow the high-level meeting which is expected to take forward the discussions on Buffer Zones.
In a recent first of its kind move, both India and China had successfully conducted patrolling in Demchok along the Line of Actual Control where forces of the two countries have been at a face off in the past. The coordinated patrolling by the two armies followed the disengagement agreement between the two countries aiming to restore pre-April 2020.
The patrolling exercise was conducted by troops below 20 in number and at an agreed frequency to avoid face offs and clashes along the LAC.
Coordinated patrolling between the two countries is seen as a major development in bilateral relationship between India and China who have constantly been on a face off specially at the LAC in eastern Ladakh.
The disengagement was completed at both Depsang and Demchok districts in Eastern Ladakh in October after which the patrolling began as the ground commanders, which includes officers of brigadier rank or below, from both parties held meetings to work out the modalities of patrolling.
By October end this year, around 40% of temporary structures had already been removed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at both Depsang and Demchok villages in Ladhak as both Indian and Chinese troops started the disengagement process. The entire process was completed in small batches over time. Removal of tents and temporary barriers, however, did not indicate complete withdrawal of troops.
The disengagement process, that came after nearly a four year long stand off between India and China, follows the recent agreement between the two countries aimed at resolving border disputes.
Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh recently noted that both India and China have reached a broad consensus through sustained diplomatic and military-level discussions. Following these discussions, it was decided by both sides to restore the ground situation based on the principles of equal and mutual security, the defence minister said.
The consensus also includes resumption of patrolling and grazing rights in these areas.
This crucial development came just days after, in an unanticipated yet significant development, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping held a bilateral meeting on the side lines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia.
This was the first formal meeting between the two leaders in the last five years.
During their meeting, Chinese President told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that both sides must strengthen cooperation and communication and properly handle differences. This was confirmed by China’s state broadcaster CCTV that quoted Xi Jinping saying that the two sides “should strengthen communication and cooperation, properly handle divergences and differences, and realize each other’s development dreams”.
The Chinese president’s remarks from the BRICS followed a statement from Indian external affairs minister S Jaishankar who said that the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has returned to what it was before May 2020.
