External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the diplomatic and military talks have helped both sides to enhance understanding of each other's positions on the issue.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday credited the breakthrough agreement with China on patrolling along the Line of Actual Control to the military which worked in 'very very unimaginable' conditions and deft diplomacy.
Recalling the Galwan incident, he said the bravery, valour and restraint shown by the Indian Army are incomparable and unparalleled.
The sources said the Indian Army has been on a very high level of alert and is ready to deal with any eventuality in the area.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said India has never attacked any country out of hatred or contempt but if its interests are threatened, 'we will not hesitate to take a big step'.
'They also agreed that for the overall development of bilateral relations it was essential to maintain enduring peace and tranquillity in the border areas,' the MEA said in a statement.
The frontline troops of China and India have "completed" disengagement at most locations of their border, a senior Chinese official said on Tuesday, adding the situation on the ground is easing.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday that India and China are going through a 'particularly bad patch' in their ties because Beijing has taken a set of actions in violation of agreements for which it still doesn't have a 'credible explanation' and it is for the Chinese leadership to answer where they want to take the bilateral relationship.
With the arrival of the new batch, the number of Rafale aircraft has increased to eight. The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29, nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.
Jaishankar said the last few years have been a "period of serious challenge", both for the relationship and for the prospects of Asia, noting that continuation of the current impasse will not benefit either India or China.
This is the first such incident along the border with China that Indian armed forces personnel have been killed after a gap of nearly 45 years.
The situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China is stable but there is a need to keep a very close watch on it, Army Chief General Manoj Pande said on Friday amid the nearly three-year-long border row in eastern Ladakh.
In its annual threat assessment presented before the Senate Armed Services Committee during a Congressional hearing on Tuesday, the US intelligence community said the expanded military posture by both India and China along the disputed border elevates the risk of armed confrontation between the two nuclear powers that might involve direct threats to US persons and interests and calls for America's intervention.
'Why have we failed to address the issue of ensuring a requisite buffer zone in J&K, given that cross-border links of some J&K politicians are known?', asks Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
The Indian Army said the soldier, a Corporal in the Chinese People's Liberation Army(PLA), has been identified as Wang Ya Long and he will be returned to the Chinese military at the Chushul-Moldo border point after completion of formalities.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held two-back-to-back meetings with top military brass on Tuesday deliberating on the situation in eastern Ladakh after an Indian Army officer and two soldiers were killed in a violent clash with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley.
Sources said that even though India and China have been talking at the diplomatic and the military level for over six weeks now, there has been no thinning down in troop numbers or equipment by the Chinese side on this front.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to call another high-level meeting later today, they added.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said the breakthrough agreement with China on patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) does not mean that issues between the two countries have been resolved, however, the disengagement allows us to look at the next step.
Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria said that the IAF is prepared to deal with a two-front war along the northern and western borders if such a scenario arises.
The paper suggests the strategy needs to be area-specific eg, border tourism can be promoted aggressively in the Turtuk or Siachen sector, and Daulat Beg Oldi or Depsang plains.
Former vice chief of Indian Air Force Air Marshal P K Barbora (retd), known to be an outstanding air warrior who was instrumental in reactivation of the Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) air strip in eastern Ladakh, passed away at a military hospital in New Delhi on Monday. He was 72.
'In the short term the relationship will get worse.'
He said there were no signs of an "overt collusion" between China and Pakistan during the Ladakh standoff but India also caters to a long term strategy for not a two, but a two-and-half front war. With the half front, he was referring to the internal security.
Sources said the Indian delegation was warmly greeted by senior officials of the Chinese Army before the talks began.
There is a possibility of more talks at the military and diplomatic levels. India has always been in favour of peace. So, we hope a solution will be found out through talks, Singh said
The destabilising and corrosive behaviour of the Chinese Community Party in the Indo-Pacific region is simply not helpful and some of the defence infrastructure that is being set up by China near its border with India is alarming, US Army's Pacific Commanding General Charles A Flynn said on Wednesday.
The Indians felt that if they acceded to Chinese claims in Ladakh, Beijing would simply be emboldened to press for further concessions in the future. A revealing excerpt from India And The Cold War.
Gen Wang is the fourth commander to head the Western Theatre Command after the eastern Ladakh standoff began in May last year.
The Indian Army is effecting a major "reorientation" and "rebalancing" of its troops in the strategically sensitive areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh, with a top general saying its overall combat readiness in the region is of a "very high order."
Two days ago, the Chinese foreign ministry following a meeting between NSA Ajit Doval and top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in Johannesburg claimed that Xi and Modi had reached an 'important consensus' on stabilising bilateral ties at the interaction on the margins of the G20 Summit last November.
India and China achieved a major milestone this year when their bilateral trade crossed the landmark figure of $100 billion but it did not generate any fanfare in both capitals as the two Asian giants are going through a "particularly bad patch" in their relations due to a set of actions by Beijing in violation of agreements that led to the military standoff in eastern Ladakh. Starting with a modest $1.83 billion in 2001, the bilateral trade crossed $100 billion-mark in the first 11 months this year, a significant milestone for which the two countries carried out campaigns to boost trade and build it as a major stakeholder to improve the relations between two nations, whose ties otherwise remained frosty over the festering boundary dispute and strategic rivalry. According to last month's data from China's General Administration of Customs (GAC), the India-China bilateral trade totalled $114.263 billion, up 46.4 per cent year-on-year from January to November 2021.
As per the sources, the discussions between the two sides include pulling back tanks and armoured vehicles from their present positions, and some development in this regard is likely to take place in the next few days.
The marathon fourth round of Lt Gen-level talks also focussed on steps for pulling back large number of troops and weapons from rear bases along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh.
Through the past 18-month period, peace has prevailed in the disputed border regions, which was immensely helpful in the difficult situation that the country was passing through, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"How dare China kill our soldiers? How dare they take our land?" he said.
The govt said that the issue is sensitive and related to national security and thus can't be made public.
The government has also relaxed certain rules to cut delays in military purchase like allowing the three services to procure required weapons and equipment from a single vendor, the sources said.
'Galwan has turned everything.' 'The casualties on both sides alerted the Chinese to the fact that Indians are not going to take it lying down.'
In a fresh incident in eastern Ladakh, the Chinese PLA carried out "provocative military movements" to "unilaterally" change the status quo on the southern bank of Pangong Tso lake but the attempt was thwarted by the Indian troops, the Army said here.
