Ladakh Standoff: India And China To Discuss Disengagement On 9 April; Gogra-Hot Springs, Depsang On The Agenda

The 11th round of talks between India and China on the military standoff in eastern Ladakh will take place on 9 April, reports say.

The two sides have already disengaged forces on the north and south bank (on the Kailash Range) of the Pangong Lake and the next round of dialogue will focus on disengagement in the Gogra-Hot Springs area, which lies north of Pangong Tso, and the Depsang Plains, northwest of the Aksai Chin region.

While the standoff between India and China in the Gogra-Hot Springs area is likely to be resolved soon, the disengagement in the Depsang Plains could take more time given the complex nature of the issue.

According to Lt Gen Y K Joshi, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Army’s Northern Command, the current situation in Depsang is a “legacy issue”.

The issue in Depsang “predates the present situation...In 2010, when I was a brigade commander here, Depsang was a flash point then too. Secondly, we must remember that this is the area of differing perception of their claim line and our claim line. The third thing is that here the troops are not in contact. What happens is when our patrols go, they give us a face-off. When their patrols come, we give them a face-off. Both sides don’t allow each other to reach their respective claim lines,” Lt Gen Joshi told CNN-News18 in February this year.

The 11th round of talks between India and China will take place after hectic diplomatic activity in New Delhi over the last few weeks.

In March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the first leadership-level meet of the Quad with the US President and the Prime Ministers of Japan and Australia. This was followed by the visit of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to Delhi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was in India earlier this week.

Ahead of the 11th round of talks, India appears to have upset China with a tweet on Taiwan, expressing sympathy after a serious railway accident killed over 50 people in the island nation. This came just days after a sitting envoy of the US visited Taiwan in an official capacity for the first time in 40 years.

Also Read: India-China Standoff In Depsang, Explained