Ladakh Stand-Off: India, China To Hold Another Round Of Diplomatic Talks To Break Impasse Over Disengagement Of Troops Along LAC

The fifth meeting of its kind along the diplomatic channels between the Asian neighbours, to be held via video conference, is being held at a time when the top level military talks on dousing the flaring tensions along the disputed border have come to a complete standstill and hit a roadblocks.

(Representative Image/ Getty)

The relentless efforts to bring about a complete disengagement of troops for de-escalating the simmering tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh sector will again resume on Thursday as India and China are set to hold yet another round of talks under the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on border affairs, sources familiar with developments said. The meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) is scheduled to take place today at 11 am. The fifth meeting of its kind along the diplomatic channels between the Asian neighbours, to be held via video conference, is being held at a time when the top level military talks on dousing the flaring tensions along the disputed border have come to a complete standstill and hit a roadblocks. The meet to be held between the Indian and Chinese diplomats will be the fifth round of engagement over the border row ever since the standoff emerged into the public domain in early May and the Indian side is expected to reiterate its call for China to work sincerely towards complete disengagement and de-escalation along the LAC, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. With the Indian civilian establishment thinking hard and futuristic in New Delhi that there is a bleak possibility of a major breakthrough through the talks between the corps commanders, the Indian envoy in Beijing, Vikram Misri, has been directed to reach out to top Chinese leaders to discuss ways to end the standoff. Vikram Misri met Maj Gen Ci Guowei of the Central Military Commission’s (CMC) office of international military cooperation, and Liu Jianchao, deputy director of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) central committee’s foreign affairs commission, in Beijing last week. The people said more such meetings were on the cards. Five rounds of Lt Gen level talks between the Corps Commanders have failed to break bring about any sort of consensus due to serious differences in perception of the the actual ground position of troops along the LAC in the Finger Area near Pangong Lake and the PLA’s reluctance to vacate positions held by it in what New Delhi claims as Indian territory. The top brass of the Indian Army has been adopted a very strong and aggressive stance in its bid to restore status quo ante in eastern Ladakh and wants the PLA troops to completely disengage from certain critical hots-pots along the LAC. WATCH | India, China to hold WMCC meeting today and discuss disengagement along LAC in Ladakh