India- China corps commander level meeting focused on resolve the balance friction area in eastern Ladakh. The top-level meeting lasted for 13 hours and concluded at 11 pm yesterday. As per sources, the Indian side pushed China for resolution of remaining friction points in Eastern Ladakh to address military standoff that started in April-May 2022.
Lieutenant General Anindya Sengupta, who took over the command of the XIV Corps just before the 14th round of talks in January, led the Indian delegation. Lt Gen Sengupta is responsible for guarding the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in eastern Ladakh. Major Gen Yang Lin, commander of the South Xinjiang Military District, led the Chinese delegation in its first participation in the 14th round of talks in January.
The Indian side pressed on disengagement from Patrolling Point (PP) 15 in the Hot Springs area, where both sides have a platoon’s worth of soldiers. Chinese troops are preventing Indian soldiers from accessing five traditional patrolling limits in Depsang Plains, near India’s Daulat Beg Oldie base in the north – PP10, PP11, PP11A, PP12, and PP13 – at an area known as the Bottleneck, which is 18km inside the LAC. Chinese tents have been pitched along the Indian side of the LAC in Demchok.
Almost two years after the standoff began in May 2020, both sides have withdrawn their troops from PP14 in Galwan Valley, the north and south banks of Pangong Tso, including the Kailash Range heights in Chushul sub-sector, and PP17A in the Gogra Post area.
The no-patrolling zone has been established for all these areas in order to prevent any inadvertent confrontations while the standoff continues. However, both sides have more than 50,000 troops each in the region, along with additional air and artillery defences and other weapon systems.
