4th Round of Corps Commander-Level Talks Between India and China to Be Held Today

Another round of Corps Commander-level talks between India and China will be held on Tuesday at Chushul on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh. This will be the fourth such meeting between the two forces.

The talks will focus mainly on the second phase of disengagement along the LAC, said officials of the Indian Army, and will discuss the remaining disengagement and the next phase of de-escalation.

The two sides are also expected to finalise a roadmap for restoration of peace and tranquility in the high-altitude region that witnessed an eight-week bitter standoff between the troops of the two countries. Twenty personnel of the Indian Army were killed in Galwan Valley last month, leading to the worst stand-off between the two neighbours and deterioration in ties.

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has already completed pulling back troops from Gogra, Hot Springs and Galwan Valley and significantly thinned down its presence in the ridgeline of Finger Four in the Pangong Tso area in the last one week as demanded by India.

India has insisted that China must withdraw its forces from areas between Finger Four and Eight. The mountain spurs in the area are referred to as Fingers.

The formal process of disengagement of troops began last Monday after a nearly two-hour telephonic conversation between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi the previous day.

On Friday, India and China held another round of diplomatic talks during which both sides resolved to push ahead with "complete disengagement" of troops in eastern Ladakh in a timely manner for "full restoration" of peace and tranquility. At the meeting, it was decided that senior commanders of the two armies will meet "soon" to discuss further steps to "ensure complete disengagement and de-escalation".

The two countries have already held three rounds of Lt General-level talks and the last one took place on June 30 during which both sides agreed on an "expeditious, phased and step wise" de-escalation as a "priority" to end the standoff.

The first round of the Lt General talks was held on June 6 during which both sides finalised an agreement to disengage gradually from all the standoff points beginning with Galwan Valley. However, the situation deteriorated following the Galwan Valley clashes on June 15 as the two sides significantly bolstered their deployments in most areas along the LAC.

The second round of talks took place on June 22.