India and China have agreed to work towards a "roadmap" for rebuilding mutual trust following the border standoff in eastern Ladakh, according to a statement from the Indian Defence Ministry. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met with his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun in Vientiane, Laos, on the sidelines of a regional security conclave. Singh called for drawing lessons from the "unfortunate border clashes" of 2020 and emphasized the need for cooperation rather than conflict. Both sides agreed to work towards a roadmap for rebuilding mutual trust and understanding, and a meeting of the Special Representatives and Secretary-Vice Minister mechanism will also take place soon.
The troops carried the Indian flag at various strategic locations along the border.
The drone christened 'Bharat' has been developed by DRDO's Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), Chandigarh. It has been made to operate in high-altitude areas and can also adapt to extreme climates. It is also known to be agile.
This meeting is taking place after a gap of around four months.
Jaishankar said that both sides also exchanged views on the next steps in the India-China bilateral ties.
'We hope this round of meeting, on the basis of previous meetings, can move forward, further enlarge consensus, narrow differences and work for a solution that is acceptable to both parties,' the spokesperson said in updated comments posted on the ministry's website.
In the last couple of weeks, the Chinese forces have brought in heavy air superiority aircraft like the Sukhoi-30 and its strategic bombers to the rear locations which have been detected flying near the Indian territory maintaining the 10 km plus distance from the boundary.
India and China have agreed to rebuild ties and resume people-to-people exchanges, including resuming direct flights and the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra this year. The two countries also discussed the resumption of dialogue mechanisms to address each other's concerns and move relations to a more stable path. The meeting comes after a period of strained relations following the Galwan Valley clashes in 2020.
The visit is also aimed at boosting morale of the army personnel engaged in the seven-week bitter border faceoff with the Chinese troops in the region, sources added.
It was for the first time that the high-level military talks on the lingering border row spanned two days.
Both sides have completed creation of a buffer zone of three kilometres in the three friction points of Galwan Valley, Gogra and Hot Springs as part of a temporary measure aimed at reducing the possibility of any confrontation.
He said that the two nations will have issues in the foreseeable future. However, there are ways of addressing those issues and what happened in 2020 was not the way to address those issues.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping were on Thursday seen having brief exchanges ahead of a media briefing by the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) leaders in Johannesburg.
There was no comment from the Indian side on the statement made by the Chinese defence ministry spokesperson Colonel Wu Qian, and carried by China's official media.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed to Chinese President Xi Jinping India's concerns on the "unresolved" issues along Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh during a conversation on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said on Thursday.
The top military brass reviewed the situation in eastern Ladakh and deliberated on key issues to be flagged at the talks on Monday, the sources said. Army Chief General M M Naravane and several top military officials were present in the meeting.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday asserted that the government will not allow India's pride to be hurt under any circumstances even as he said bilateral talks were on at military and diplomatic levels to resolve the row.
The sources said the situation in eastern Ladakh remained 'tense' and that around 30-40 soldiers of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) are holding up at a position close to an Indian post in the Rezang-La ridgeline in eastern Ladakh.
India's engagement with China is "complex" and Chinese attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh starting from April-May 2020 seriously disturbed the peace and tranquillity in border areas, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said in a report on Monday.
On the first day of his two-day visit to Ladakh, Gen Naravane held a series of meetings with top commanders about the evolving situation in the region as well as on India's overall combat readiness to deal with any eventualities, military sources said.
Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria said the recent induction of Rafale jets along with previous acquisitions of C-17 Globemaster aircraft as well as Chinook and Apache helicopters have provided the IAF with substantial tactical and strategic capability enhancement.
India and China held diplomatic talks in Beijing, focusing on effective border management and the resumption of cross-border cooperation and exchanges, including on trans-border rivers and the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra. The meeting explored measures and proposals to implement decisions made during the Special Representatives (SR) dialogue in December. Both sides agreed to work together for the next SR meeting in India later this year.
Disengagement from the LAC will remain a chimera because China has given enough indications that the PLA will not move back any more. China has even deployed drones to monitor and deny any patrolling by Indian troops even in the buffer zones which are all in Indian Territory, explains Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
The Indian side is expected to seek disengagement as soon as possible in the remaining friction points besides pressing for resolution of issues in Depsang Bulge and Demchok.
"Some steps are required for full normalcy, we have not reached there," Bagchi said.
India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will travel to Beijing for a two-day trip beginning Sunday, marking the second high-profile visit from India to China in less than one-and-a-half months. The visit comes amidst ongoing border tensions and follows a recent disengagement pact between the two countries in eastern Ladakh. The Foreign Secretary-Vice Minister mechanism meeting will focus on the next steps for India-China relations, including in the political, economic, and people-to-people domains. The decision to revive this bilateral mechanism was taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan in October.
Misri is also likely to brief the parliamentary panel on the recent upswing in India's ties with China following the agreement to resume patrolling at friction points along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh.
In the next few days, Indian Army will carry out a detailed verification to check actual implementation of the disengagement process, he said. It is learnt that the mutual disengagement in Gogra (patrolling point 17A) is expected to be completed by Thursday.
The clear assertion by New Delhi came ahead of a fresh round of Lt General-level talks between the Indian army and the Chinese PLA which government sources said is set to take place within the next two days.
The Indian Army has occupied several key heights in the strategically located Rezang-La and Reqin-La areas on the southern bank of the lake since the end of August.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said India is a peace-loving nation that never resorts to any kind of aggression but is always prepared to give a befitting reply if provoked or threatened.
The last conversation between the two leaders was on April 4 on the issue of hydroxychloroquine.
The chief was also briefed extensively about the air maintenance operations in support of the Indian Army and the paramilitary troops there.
India and China agreed during their military talks on Sunday to stay in close touch and work out a mutually acceptable solution to the "remaining issues" in eastern Ladakh at the earliest, but there was no indication of clear forward movement in ending their three-year-long border standoff.
People familiar with the situation in the region said the two sides were engaged in trying to resolve the dispute, but there was no indication of a positive outcome yet as both the armies continued to bolster their positions in disputed areas of Pangong Tso and Galwan Valley and Demchok.
The ministry of external affairs on Wednesday said the talks were held in an "open and constructive manner" for an early and mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues.
Terrorism and insurgency in J&K had subsided when India demolished East Pakistan -- for the simple reason that Pakistan understands power. We need to follow Chanakya's dictum of Saam, Daam, Dand, Bhed for strategising against Pakistan, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd). The ground truth is that unless we are prepared to acknowledge our shortcomings, including massive intelligence failures, punish those responsible and take corrective actions, we will continue in the same vein, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
'Given China's past behaviour and their territorial claims, should we be sceptical regarding China's willingness to adhere to these agreements fully? The answer is yes.' 'As Ronald Reagan famously said in the context of the SALT talks, 'Trust, but verify!' India should also do the same.' 'This has already begun with foot patrolling, drones, satellite imagery and so on. India's military deployment did mirror China's and will continue to do so in the future.'
Out of 18, four personnel were critically injured but they are responding to treatment and are stable now, people familiar with the matter said.
Citing media reports that China has built shelters in the Depsang area in Ladakh, the Congress on Saturday questioned the government's 'silence' over the issue and asked what steps were being taken by it to ensure status quo ante of April 2020.
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