INDIA. Mumbai: Although the India-China Corps Commander level nine-hour long meeting was held at Chushul-Moldo border point on Sunday, there was no breakthrough with the Government of India blaming China for not being “agreeable to its constructive suggestions” and failing to provide any forward-looking proposals.
“ China and India held the 13 th round of corps commander-level talks on Sunday. India insists on reasonable and unrealistic demands, adding difficulties to the negotiations: PLA Western Theater Command” @globaltimesnews, China-state-affiliated media tweeted.
Similarly the China accused the Indian side of “persisting in its unreasonable and unrealistic demands, which added difficulties to the negotiations”. Senior Colonel Long Shaohua, the spokesperson for the Western Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), said in a statement, “The Indian side persisted in its unreasonable and unrealistic demands, which added difficulties to the negotiations. Instead of misjudging the situation, the Indian side should cherish the hard-won situation in China-India border areas.”
The meeting led by 14 Corps commander Lt-General P G K Menon and the South Xinjiang Military District chief, “thus did not result in resolution of the remaining areas”, said a statement issued by Government of India.
During the meeting, the discussions between the two sides focussed on the resolution of the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh. The Indian side pointed out that the situation along the LAC had been caused by unilateral attempts of the Chinese side to alter the status quo and in violation of the bilateral agreements.
It was therefore necessary that the Chinese side take appropriate steps in the remaining areas to restore peace and tranquillity along the LAC in the Western Sector. This would also be in accord with the guidance provided by the two Foreign Ministers in their recent meeting in Dushanbe where they had agreed that the two sides should resolve the remaining issues at the earliest.
The Indian side emphasized such resolution of the remaining areas would facilitate progress in the bilateral relations. During the meeting, the Indian side, therefore, made constructive suggestions for resolving the remaining areas but the Chinese side was not agreeable and also could not provide any forward-looking proposals. The meeting thus did not result in the resolution of the remaining areas.
The two sides have agreed to maintain communications and also to maintain stability on the ground. We expect that the Chinese side will take into account the overall perspective of bilateral relations and will work towards early resolution of the remaining issues while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols, a statement by the Union Ministry of External Affairs said.
Ahead of the military talks on Sunday, there were expectations that the two sides could at least agree to complete the stalled troop disengagement at Patrolling Point-15 (PP-15) in the larger Hot Springs-Gogra-Kongka La area in a phased manner.
The Chinese Army was not willing to address de-escalation in three remaining friction points- Hot Springs, Depsang Bulge, and Charding Nullah Junction, in East Ladakh, official sources here said.
Army chief General M M Naravane, on Saturday, had said if the PLA continues to maintain its forward deployment along the frontier in eastern Ladakh through the second winter, then it will lead to a “Line of Control-like situation” (with Pakistan), though not “an active one” like on the Western front.
