India China Border Dispute: India and China will hold the 12th Corps Commander-level meet on the Ladakh standoff today. The meeting will be held at Moldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at 10:30 a.m.
According to reports, the two sides are expected to discuss disengagement from the Hot Springs and Gogra Heights areas in eastern Ladakh.
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The ninth round of Commander-level talks was held earlier on January 24 facilitated the disengagement of troops around the north and south banks of Pangong Lake, wherein the armies of both countries stood eyeball-to-eyeball for more than 10 months.
The disengagement was announced on February 11.
Under the disengagement agreement signed between the two countries, they had completely evacuated the Finger area north of Pangong Tso Lake and the Kailash Hill range in the south and sent their armies behind.
Even after the disengagement of the first phase, there were many disputed areas on the LAC adjoining eastern Ladakh, where there was tension between the armies of the two countries. Gogra and Hot Spring have also been part of these disputed areas.
China had, however, in the last meeting denied any dispute in any other area except the Pangong Tso area.
A meeting of military commanders was agreed upon after the meeting between the Foreign Ministers of India and China this month. In tune with the same, the meeting to be held on Saturday is considered important.
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The ongoing border dispute between India and China in eastern Ladakh has been going on since May last year. But till now the soldiers posted on the forward posts from both sides have not been able to return.
Significantly, till now there have been continuous talks at diplomatic and military levels between India and China to settle the LAC dispute. The troops of both countries also returned from some places and the soldiers went to the old hideout but an agreement has not yet been done on Hot Spring and Gogra.
In June last year, there was a violent clash between the two countries, which was the first such incident in the last several decades. In this incident, 20 soldiers of the Indian Army were martyred while about 40 PLA soldiers of China were killed. However, China never gave the actual figure of its soldiers' death to the world.
Xi Jinping's Visit To Lhasa Amid India-China Dispute
Chinese President Xi Jinping met top military officials in Lhasa and underscored the importance of long-term stability and prosperity in Tibet. A day after news of Jinping’s unannounced visit to India's strategically important region, including Nyingchi, bordering Arunachal Pradesh, state media reported his meeting with top military officials in Lhasa.
The Global Times said in its news that Jinping met with the top officials of the Chinese military's Tibet command and called for a complete strengthening of the training work and war preparedness of the soldiers. This was Jinping's first visit to Tibet as the President, which lasted from Wednesday to Friday last week. But China's official media kept the related news confidential till its completion.
As part of his visit, Jinping first visited Nyingchi, a strategically important town on the border with India's Arunachal Pradesh. He reached Nyingchi railway station and inquired about the things related to it. State media said his visit ended with a meeting with military officials stationed in Tibet. In his meeting with the officials, he underlined the importance of long-term stability and prosperity in Tibet. Jinping's first visit to Tibet comes amid the ongoing military standoff between India and China in eastern Ladakh.