Foreign ministry officials of India and China met through video-conference on Friday and decided to follow through with steps for “complete disengagement” of troops in eastern Ladakh for “full restoration” of peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control.
This was the 16th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) in which it was “reaffirmed that both sides will ensure complete disengagement of the troops along the LAC and de-escalation from India-China border areas for full restoration of peace and tranquillity”.
As Chinese troops continued to withdraw from Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh, the two countries held another round of diplomatic talks, and decided that senior commanders of the two armies will meet soon to discuss further steps to ensure complete disengagement and de-escalation in a timely manner.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday briefed his American counterpart Mark Esper on the latest developments in the over two-month troop confrontation with China, which has seen India deploy US-origin weapon systems like Apache attack helicopters and M-777 howitzers in eastern Ladakh.
Though there was no official word on the telephonic talk between the two ministers, sources said bilateral defence ties as well as the regional security situation in face of an aggressive China in the entire Indo-Pacific region featured in the discussion.
The ITBP, which along with the Army is responsible for patrolling the 3,488 km LAC, is now expected to get additional responsibilities as part of the new plan being prepared to prevent face-to-face contact between the two armies after the Galwan clash.
The conversation between the Special Representatives,India’s NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on Sunday, which led to the announcement, has given hostilities a necessary pause. While the statements made in New Delhi and Beijing were not identical in language, they largely conveyed a consensus to restore peace and tranquillity at the LAC.
