New Delhi: In an interesting and unprecedented development, a joint secretary level official from the ministry of external affairs who specializes on China will be part of the India-China corps commander level talks that will take place at Moldo across eastern Ladakh from 11 AM on Monday morning.
Moldo is the PLA base across the Indian army base of Chushul.
This is the first time that a foreign ministry official will take part in the lieutenant-general level military talks between the two armies.
Sources told ETV Bharat that the move has been necessitated by the crucial need to exactly define the contours of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) which at the moment is interpreted differently by both the Asian giants.
There will be no foreign ministry representation from the Chinese side as there is no clear delineation between the diplomacy and military in China the way it is structured in India.
While Lieutenant-General Harender Singh, commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps will lead the Indian military delegation, Major-General Lin Liu, commander of the PLA’s South Xinjiang Military district, will lead the Chinese team.
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This will be the sixth time the two corps commanders will meet after June 6, June 22, June 30, July 14 and August 2 at Chushul-Moldo.
Nuclear powers India and China are witnessing a tense relationship since April-May 2020 after a border row escalated into a deadly escalating confrontation.
Both countries have now amassed more than 1,00,000 troops across the border along with deployment of artillery and air assets.
The need for de-escalation and disengagement is perceived to be all the more critical now with the upcoming winter when the high altitude and difficult terrain becomes extremely hostile.
All the existing mechanisms to resolve India-China border issues at the level of special representatives, the respective foreign ministers and defence ministries have thus far failed to wring out an amicable agreement acceptable to both the countries.
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The two militaries face each other at several points along the border, separated by a few hundred meters in a few faceoff points.
Fixing the date and time for the upcoming meeting had been a difficult proposition due to Chinese stubborn insistence on leaving out PLA’s withdrawing from Finger 4 ridgeline on the northern bank of the Pangong Tso from the scope of the talks.
It was during the May 5-6 fistfight between Indian army and PLA soldiers that China moved in troops and erected semi permanent structures at the Finger 4 ridgeline and its consequent refusal to step back since then.
Fingers 1 to Finger 8 are finger-like spurs that jut out in a north-south direction from the mountains southwards to the Pangong Lake. While India claims the LAC runs near Finger 8, China claims territory till Finger 3. In the past, while PLA patrolled from Finger 8 to 4, Indian Army patrolled from Finger 4 to 8.
Read: When gunshots rang out, truth died a little in the cold ridges of Rezang La
