India and China hold border meet, discuss peace a day after Ladakh scuffle

Rahul Singh and Rajesh Ahuja, HT, 16 August 2017, New Delhi: A man walks inside a conference room used for meetings between military commanders of China and India, at the Indian side of the Indo-China border at Bumla, in Arunachal Pradesh.

Indian and Chinese officials were meeting at the border in Ladakh on Wednesday, a day after their troops were involved in a scuffle in the area.

The clash near the Pangong Lake, which divides Indian and Chinese territory, was triggered by an incursion bid by Chinese troops that was foiled, sources said.

The incident came at a time when the two neighbours are in a standoff thousands of miles away in the disputed Doklam plateau close to Sikkim on India’s northeastern border.

Government sources said a “pre-scheduled border personnel meeting” was in progress in Ladakh’s Chushul area since Wednesday afternoon, adding the Pangong Lake incident was also on the agenda.

The two sides were also discussing strengthening of existing mechanisms for maintaining border peace and tranquillity, the sources said.

“This is not a subject on which the government normally makes a comment,” defence minister Arun Jaitley said.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said at a regular briefing in Beijing that she was not aware of any scuffle at the Ladakh border.

On Tuesday, two groups of Chinese armymen reportedly crossed the Line of Actual Control around the Pangong Lake. Indian border troopers asked them to return.

“The Chinese patrol refused to move when the Indian side first showed banners that they were in Indian territory, as per the settled drill. Heated arguments took place between the two sides, leading to a scuffle in which troops punched at each other and then finally stones were thrown,” an official said on condition of anonymity.

Indian troops involved in the incident said the Chinese patrol teams, consisting of around 15 personnel, started throwing stones first.

Around six men from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) suffered injuries.