Following the agreement between India and China before the BRICS summit in Russia, disengagement has begun in two conflict points Demchok and Depsang in the eastern Ladakh sector. Indian soldiers on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) discussed tea with Chinese soldiers in a pleasant atmosphere and then made them chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
The soldiers of both the countries have started returning their weapons to the respective areas. The Indian Army and the Chinese Army will complete the disengagement by 28-29 October and start patrolling to their respective patrol points. Before Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the BRICS summit in Russia, it was announced on 21 October that an agreement has been reached between India and China regarding patrolling on the LAC, which was seen as a hope of melting the ice frozen on the relations between the two countries for five years.
Prime Minister Modi held bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on 23 October in Russia and welcomed the agreement between the two countries on the patrolling system on the LAC in eastern Ladakh. Prime Minister Modi said that maintaining peace and stability on the border should remain the priority of both countries and mutual trust should remain the basis of bilateral relations.
The Prime Minister said that India-China relations are important not only for the people of both countries but also for global peace, stability and progress. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said at the Chanakya Defense Dialogue in New Delhi on October 24 that India and China are negotiating at both diplomatic and military levels to resolve their differences in some areas of the LAC.
This also includes patrolling and grazing in traditional areas. There is a broad consensus between the two countries to restore the ground situation based on the principles of equal and mutual security. He said that this consensus is the result of continuous dialogue, the results of which will come sooner or later. The Defense Minister said that development and security are often seen from different perspectives but in reality they are deeply interconnected and mutually reinforcing each other.
Since the border standoff with China began in May 2020, tensions have persisted between the armies of the two countries in the Depsang Plains and Demchok area. Despite the withdrawal of troops from Galwan Valley, Pangong Lake, Gogra (PP-17A) and Hot Springs (PP-15) in eastern Ladakh, thousands of soldiers and advanced weapons of both Indian and Chinese armies are still deployed in the Ladakh region. Even after the latest agreement with China, the border dispute on the LAC has not ended completely, as both countries share a 3,488 km long border. This border is divided into three sectors Eastern, Middle and Western, in which Ladakh falls in the Western sector.
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