NEW DELHI: The much-awaited 12th Corps Commander-level meeting between India and China on the Ladakh standoff will be held at 10.30 am on Saturday. The meeting will be held at Moldo on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
“The 12th round of the Corps Commanders is to be held in Moldo tomorrow,” a source confirmed, The meeting is to start at 1030am added the source.
It has been more than three months since the last Senior Higher Military Commanders Level (Corps Commanders) talk was held on April 9 this year. Between May 2020 and April this year, there have been 11 such talks.
As first reported by The New Indian Express, it was in the first week of May 2020 that the troops of the Indian Army and Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) clashed at the Finger 4 on the North bank of the Pangong Lake leading to the standoff. It further expanded to Hotspring, Gogra, Galwan, and also in Depsang and Demchok.
For the first time in the history of border dispute negotiations between India and China, the talks involved Senior Higher Military Commanders (SHCML) as otherwise Higher Military Commanders or the Division Commanders (Major Generals) were the senior-most officials meeting to resolve the disputes.
There has been mutual disengagement at Galwan and North and South Banks of the Pangong lake.
India and China are expected to discuss disengagement from the Hot Springs and Gogra Heights areas in eastern Ladakh, Army sources said, adding that the Indian side has made it clear that it would agree for de-escalation only if it is simultaneous and withdrawal of troops is equal. Besides this, the measures should address mutual security concerns.
But there is a trust deficit between the two countries as the Chinese side overlooked all the agreements and Memorandum of Understandings this time. Also, there was a deadly clash at Galwan in June 2020 which led to the deaths on both sides.