China Says Disengagement of Troops Going on "Smoothly" in Eastern Ladakh

PTI, BEIJING, OCT 26 — China has stated that the disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh by the Chinese and Indian armies is proceeding "smoothly" following a recent agreement between the two nations. On October 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping endorsed the agreement on patrolling and disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia.

“In accordance with the resolutions that China and India reached recently on issues concerning the border area, the Chinese and Indian frontier troops are engaged in relevant work, which is going smoothly at the moment," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a media briefing here on Friday.

India announced the agreement to pull back troops from the friction points on October 21, and China confirmed a day later, stating that the two sides had reached “resolutions on relevant matters” and that Beijing would work with New Delhi to implement these resolutions.

Following the agreement, the two countries have begun troop disengagement at the two friction points at Demchok and Depsang Plains in eastern Ladakh, and this process is likely to be completed by October 28-29, Indian Army sources said on Friday. The agreement was finalized only for these two friction points, and "talks are still underway" for other areas, they added.

Sources indicated that patrolling will commence at these points once the disengagement, which began two days ago, is completed, and both sides will move their respective troops and dismantle temporary structures. Eventually, they added, the areas and patrolling status are expected to return to the pre-April 2020 level.

The ties between the two Asian giants nosedived following a fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, marking the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri stated on October 21 in New Delhi that the agreement was finalized following negotiations over the past several weeks and that it would lead to a resolution of the issues that arose in 2020.