In a massive development, India-China agree to restart patrolling along LAC ‘resulting in disengagement’
In a significant development, the government announced on Monday that India and China had reached an agreement to restart patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, resulting in disengagement. The news was made public before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Russia today for the 16th BRICS Summit, during which he could potentially have discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“Over the last several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other in a variety of forums. As a result of the discussions that have taken place over the last several weeks, an agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border area and this is leading to dis-engagement and eventually a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020,” Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said.
Inquired about the possibility of a one-on-one meeting between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Summit in Kazan on October 22-23, the Foreign Secretary responded, “We are still finalizing the schedule.”
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reacted to the development and called it a major breakthrough. “Frictions happen between large countries, but this is a major breakthrough,” he said.
Since May 2020, the Indian and Chinese armies have been in a face-to-face confrontation; New Delhi aims to return the LAC to its pre-2020 state.
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The existing deal focuses on conducting patrols in Depsang and Demchok regions. Previously, the armed forces of both nations had retreated from four out of six areas of tension in eastern Ladakh, such as Galwan Valley, where a violent confrontation occurred in June 2020, marking the most severe military skirmish between the two parties in years.
What happened during the Galwan clash
The June 15, 2020 incident in Galwan, characterized as a hand-to-hand fight without guns, led to India’s loss of 20 troops, one of whom was a Colonel. While China officially reported four deaths, it is believed that up to 40 members of the PLA lost their lives in the confrontation.
The clash was the most deadly since the war in 1962 and signaled a major decline in relations between China and India, causing significant changes in the political and strategic considerations of both countries with widespread effects on their relationship, regional peace, and global politics.
