India, China hold 'downgraded' disengagement talks

India and China held border talks on Tuesday at the Major General-level to discuss outstanding issues coming in the way of disengagement of troops on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The talks were held at Daulat Beg Oldie in Ladakh and are a step lower than the routine Corps Commander talks that have been taking place since 2020, when China moved thousands of troops close to the border, resulting in a tense standoff with India.

Sources said the two sides discussed ways of resolving the ongoing standoff at the Depsang plains and Demchock, and were part of a routine process. These talks follow a meeting at the Corps Commander-level on April 23 at the Chushul Moldo meeting point. However, no breakthrough was made during the dialogue.

Such talks have been taking place at regular intervals since the border tensions peaked. The most tense flashpoint is at a feature called bottleneck in Depsang, where Chinese troops are blocking Indian access to several patrolling points on the LAC. A smaller standoff is at Demchock where Chinese personnel have pitched tents in an area that India considers to be on its side of the LAC. No major incident of violence has taken place on the LAC in Ladakh since 2020 but China has kept the border crisis active with continued deployment of troops along the disputed areas. The last physical clash took place in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, in which the Indian Army thwarted a Chinese attempt to dismantle its posts on the border. While disengagement has taken place at several points, including Pangong Tso, the Galwan Valley and Hot springs, a larger de-escalation of tension remains elusive. China has been insisting on maintaining troops close to friction points of the LAC, forcing India to undertake counter measures to protect its interests.

In April, during bilateral talks, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh strongly conveyed to his Chinese counterpart that peace on the border is imperative to move ahead on any other front. In talks with Chinese Defence Minister General Li Shangfu, Singh said that development of relations between India and China is "premised on prevalence of peace of tranquility at the borders".