India, China To Hold Corps Commander-Level Talks On LAC Standoff Today

New Delhi: India and China are set to hold their next round of military commander-level talks on August 14. This would be the 19th round of talks since June 2020, news reports said. The talks are said to take place at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Indian side.

The latest round of Corps Commander level talks will take place almost four months after the last military dialogue was held on April 23.

The 19th round of military talks will take place in the run-up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending the BRICS Summit in South Africa’s Johannesburg on August 22-24. The possibility of a meeting between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit has not been ruled out, people aware of the matter said. Also, the Chinese leader is expected to be in New Delhi for the G20 summit in September.

Despite four rounds of disengagement from Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra (PP-17A) and Hot Springs (PP-15), the Indian and Chinese armies still have more than 60,000 troops each and advanced weaponry deployed in the Ladakh theatre. It, however, ended in a stalemate. Since then there has been a series of high-level contacts between the two sides.

The Indian delegation is likely to be headed by Lt Gen Rashim Bali, Commander of the Leh-headquartered 14 Corps. The Chinese team is expected to be led by the commander of the South Xinjiang Military District, the newspaper reported.

The Indian delegation at the talks is going to seek completion of the disengagement process in the remaining friction points at the earliest, said one of the persons cited above, one of the people familiar with the matter told PTI on Saturday, August 12.

During the 18th round of talks, held on April 23, the Indian side had strongly pressed for resolving the lingering issues at Depsang and Demchok.