The 9th round took place after a quiet while on Sunday started at 10 a.m. and ended around evening sometime and the current situation of borders were discussed.
Indian and Chinese military leaders met on Sunday in the ninth round of talks to discuss a possible solution to the nearly nine-month border war east of Ladakh.The meeting, which started at 10 a.m. on the Chinese side of the Chushul-Moldo Border Personnel Meeting (BPM), continued until the evening. The latest effort came two and a half months after the last talks between the two sides on November 6, which was about 50,000 troops deployed in the region, as well as additional weapons, tanks and air defence equipment.
Following is an invitation from India for negotiations while the two countries keep in regular telephone contact with other means to prevent any unexpected incident that could be a problem in this situation. A few months ago, India repatriated two straying Chinese soldiers who crossed the Line of Actual Control in separate incidents. On Sunday, Lt Gen P G K Menon, the XIV Corps Commander, who is in charge of the LAC east of Ladakh, and deployed another military official from Delhi, led the Indian delegation. Naveen Srivastava, Additional Secretary (East Asia) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was also present.
This is the fourth time that Srivastava, who has been leading the Indian side of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) meetings, has been part of the military talks. The WMCC negotiations last took place on December 18. Major General Liu Lin, commander of the South Xinjiang Armed Forces, led the Chinese delegation. The standoff began in early May last year, when the Chinese came 8 km west of the area where India claimed to be marking the LAC on the northern bank of Pangong Tso. Although there was some level of withdrawal in early June, China did not finish away from most of the conflict zones.
The situation escalated on June 15 last year when Indian and Chinese troops clashed in Galwan Valley near Patrol Point 14, resulting in the killing of 20 Indian soldiers and an undisclosed number of Chinese troops. Since then, both sides have strengthened their military capabilities in the region. Toward the end of August, Indian troops suddenly seized the Chinese to take over the high-rise areas of the southern bank of Pangong Tso in the suburbs of Chushul to ignore Chinese military forces Moldo and the critical Spanggur Gap. India has repatriated its troops to the north bank of Pangong Tso again.
Recently there have been indications that while China is open for the military to return to its former positions, both sides are unable to obtain details of the suspension, especially in terms of who will step down first and from where. On January 12, speaking at an annual press conference ahead of Military Day, Chief of Defense Forces MM Naravane expressed hope that both sides would "reach an agreement that would lead to separation and reduction of positions" in line with the principle of "equality and security".
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