India and China hold 13th round of military talks

Sources said the former pressed for disengagement process to be initiated in the remaining friction points — Depsang Plains and Hot Springs — in eastern Ladakh

Indian Army chief MM Naravane. : File picture

Special Correspondent   |   TT  |  New Delhi   |   11.10.21  : Indian and Chinese armies held the 13th round of military talks in eastern Ladakh on Sunday on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control to resolve the 17-month border standoff.

The talks began around 10.30am and ended at 7pm, a defence ministry official said.

Till around 9pm, neither the Indian Army nor the defence ministry issued any formal statement on the outcome of the meeting.

Sources said India pressed for the disengagement process to be initiated in the remaining friction points — Depsang Plains and Hot Springs — in eastern Ladakh. The Chinese are said to be entrenched 18km inside India-claimed lines at the strategically located Depsang Plains.

The Chinese army has disengaged “partially” from other friction points — the Galwan Valley, the Pangong Lake and Gogra — through the creation of a demilitarised “buffer zone”.

This means the Chinese have stepped back a few kilometres while still remaining within India-claimed lines, and the Indian troops have retreated by an equal distance — a move some veterans have criticised as “ceding more territory” to the Chinese.

Ahead of talks, Indian Army chief M.M. Naravane had said on Saturday that the continued Chinese build-up in eastern Ladakh suggested that “they are there to stay”.

“We are keeping a close watch on all this development,” he had said.