India-China military talks have been halted along the Ladakh border due to change in the guard of the People's Liberation Army(PLA). The ninth round of dialogue between Delhi and Beijing is expected to continue once the newly appointed General Zhang Xudong completes his military familiarisation and troop deployments on the Indian border, according to the Hindustan Times.
The former Tibet veteran Gen Zhao Zongqi stepped down earlier on December 21. His replacement, Gen Zhang Xudong has never served on the Indian border or Tibet. However, he was the principal implementer of Beijing aggression in Doklam in 2017 and in East Ladakh in May 2020.
The ninth round of talks is crucial for both the sides as both sides are expected to work towards a written disengagement agreement on the border.
The December 18 meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) ended on a positive note, according to a senior military officer. “It is work in progress and till such time a firm agreement is not chalked out, India is holding positions on East Ladakh,” said a military officer.
As for the dates for the ninth round are concerned, the Indian understanding is that this could be due to the new PLA Western Theatre Commander taking over as military leader of Tibet and Xinjiang. The process of induction of a new military commander takes time as Gen Zhang is expected to visit key deployments and receive his operational briefings about the situation along the 3488-kilometre Line of Actual Control (LAC).
For now, Indian officials said they expect the new military commander to take a similar line against India as the last one since Beijing appeared to be pulling the strings to keep the East Ladakh in stand-off mode to achieve its strategic objectives during the 100th year of Chinese Communist Party in 2021.
