The 11th round of meeting will focus on disengagement in areas like Gogra, Depsang and Hot springs. The two countries have successfully completed disengagement of troops at the Pangong Tso Lake area.
(Photo: IANS)
India and China are likely to hold the next round of corps commander-level talks on disengagement at other friction points in Eastern Ladakh on 9 April, army sources said today.
The 11th round of meeting will focus on disengagement in areas like Gogra, Depsang and Hot springs. The two countries have successfully completed disengagement of troops at the Pangong Tso Lake area.
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The talks follow a meeting between senior diplomats of the two countries under the format of the Working Mechanism for Coordination and Consultations (WMCC) in border areas.
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The two countries have been engaged in a military stand-off for almost a year but the completion of disengagement at the Pangong Tso Lake area last month has raised hopes of the face-off coming to an end.
India has expressed its hope that China would cooperate to ensure completion of disengagement of troops in remaining areas.
“This (disengagement) would allow both sides to consider de-escalation of forces in eastern Ladakh as that alone will lead to the restoration of peace and tranquillity and provide conditions for progress of our bilateral relationship,” ministry of external affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. India believes protracting the existing situation at eastern Ladakh was in neither side’s interest.
China has, meanwhile, pitched for a final settlement of the complex boundary dispute to avoid recurring military stand-offs between the two countries.
Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong said the recent disengagement at the Pangong Tso Lake was conducive to building trust and further easing the situation on the ground. “Against this backdrop, we should implement the consensus reached by the two leaders (of the two countries) and strictly abide by the existing agreements, step up dialogue and communication, and improve the border management and control mechanisms to further ease, stabilise and control the border situation, avoid relapse and jointly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border areas,’’ he said, last week.
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