NEW DELHI: As part of the process to ease tension along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, the Corps Commanders of India and China will meet on January 12. According to sources, the date has been finalised.
While there have been disengagements at Galwan, Pangong Tso banks and Gogra, the stand-off continues at Hot Springs. From the Indian side, it will be the first Corps Commanders meeting for Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta, who took over command of the ‘Fire and Fury Corps’ from Lt Gen PGK Menon on Wednesday.
This will be the 14th round of military talks since the first one between the Corps Commander based in Leh and the Chinese Commander on June 6, 2020, in the Chushul-Moldo region.
This comes amid reports of China raising major permanent infrastructures on their side, including a bridge connecting the north and south banks of Pangong Lake which, sources say, will help PLA troops switch banks in just four hours. Otherwise, this used to take around 12 hours.
India on Thursday had made clear that the bridge constructed by China to connect these two banks is illegal. Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “As you are well aware, India has never accepted such illegal occupation.”
This bridge is constructed in areas that have been under illegal occupation by China for around 60 years, Bagchi said. There are more than 50,000 armed soldiers on both sides of the LAC in eastern Ladakh, with stand-offs continuing at Depsang Plains, Hot Springs and Demchok.