China and India are expected to engage in the 14th round of high-level military talks on January 12 with an objective to disengage and withdraw their respective armies from the remaining “friction points” in the eastern sector of Ladakh, Economic Times reported.
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The two sides will discuss ways to expedite the disengagement process and hence demilitarise the sites of contention in eastern Ladakh. The talks are likely to be held at the Chushul Border point on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the report added quoting people who are familier with the development. India will likely push for a prompt disengagement of the militarised sites, including the Depsang Bulge and Demchok.
The Chinese side had been ambiguous regarding fixing the date for the 14th round of talk. The Indian side, as per media reports, had sent two proposals to hold the meeting but the Chinese side did not respond affirmatively. This was contrary to what was agreed to in the virtual diplomatic meeting on November 18 where both the sides agreed to soon conduct talks. Commentators believe that this delay was deliberately done by China as they were waiting for the implementation of its new “Border Law”, which came into force on January 1. This law is seen as a legal backing to Chinese irredentist claims all along the LAC and legitimises its army’s acts of aggression in the disputed region hence making the disengagement process more difficult to achieve.
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The previous round of corps commander-level talks was held on October 10 and it had materialised after a meeting between Indian Foreign minister (FM) S. Jaishankar and Chinese FM Wang Yi on the sidelines of the SCO summit on September 16 in Tajikistan. The military talks however failed to break the impasse, apparent from the fact that there was no joint statement issued after the talks concluded. The Indian Army had later commented that various practical suggestions proposed by them were rejected by the Chinese side and the latter did not put forward any progressive proposal. The 12th talks had led to disengagement in the Gogra area as well as the north and south banks of Pangong Lake in August 2021. Both sides have currently deployed around 50,000-60,000 troops as well as heavy ammunition along the LAC.
