India, China To Hold Fifth Round Of Commander-Level Talks Today

New Delhi:

India will focus on “complete disengagement” by China in Ladakh’s Finger area in a fresh round of diplomatic talks to scale down tensions along the de facto border, army sources confirmed today.

The Indian and Chinese armies will be holding Commander-level talks at 11am today in Moldo – the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control, sources said.

This will be the fifth round of talks between the countries in an attempt to defuse tensions following a clash between the nations in June in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in action.

India had on Thursday in a statement that the process of disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh has not yet been completed though some progress has been made. This was a counter to China’s claim that frontline forces of the two countries have “completed” this exercise at most locations along their border.

Last week, government sources told NDTV that China has not pulled back troops from all the areas that it had intruded into Ladakh near the LAC in May.

China’s troops are still present in the Depsang Plains region, Gogra and the Fingers region along the Pangong Lake where India and China had started a mutual disengagement by creating a buffer zone between both sides, India had said.

There have been several rounds of diplomatic and military talks in the last few weeks to ease tension in the region.

Indian and Chinese forces have locked in a standoff on their de-facto Himalayan border since May. The two sides blame each other for the clash in Ladakh and have since moved thousands of troops there while pursuing talks that they say aim to ease the tensions.