India and China will hold their 19th round of military talks on Monday as part of efforts to de-escalate tensions along Line of Actual Control(LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
The talks come at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Africa for the BRICS leaders’ summit after a week.
According to The Indian Express report, the Indian delegation will be led by 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen Rashim Bali.
The report mentioned that the last round of talks was held on April 23 ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ meeting.
“Legacy friction points along the LAC in eastern Ladakh and ways to overcome the trust deficit between the two militaries were discussed,” it said.
The report quoting officials said “confidence-building measures, ensuring adherence to border protocols, sharing of patrol information to avoid clashes between troops and ensuring adequate communication between the ground troops —along the LAC and at buffer zones — would be discussed.”
Chinese President Xi is also scheduled to visit India for the G20 summit on September 9 and 10 this year.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval have already met Chinese Foreign minister Wang Yi, who replaced Qin Gang last month.
Indian and Chinese authorities have met several times but there has been no resolution in sight to the standoff that began in May 2020.
India and China have managed to complete disengagement in some areas but 50,000-60,000 troops remain deployed on both sides of the India-China border, the report said.
In September last year, both sides pulled back troops to disengage from Patrolling Point-15 in the Gogra-Hot Springs area of Eastern Ladakh, marking a step forward, it mentioned.
The report said: “friction points such as Galwan Valley, north and south banks of Pangong Tso and the Gogra-Hot Springs area, have seen some resolution with the creation of buffer zones.”
