Working Mechanism on Border Affairs Meeting
India and China “agreed”, on 18 November 2021, to hold the next round of the Senior Military Commanders meeting at an early date and to achieve the objective of complete disengagement from all the friction points along the LAC in the Western Sector in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement.
The 23rd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC), which was held virtually, also agreed that in the interim, both sides would also continue to ensure a stable ground situation and avoid any untoward incident.
The Indian delegation was led by MEA’s Additional Secretary (East Asia) and the DG of Chinese MFA’s Boundary & Oceanic Department of the Chinese led the other side.
The two sides recalled the agreement between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting in September in Dushanbe that military and diplomatic officials should continue their discussions to resolve the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh.
Accordingly, they had “candid and in-depth” discussions on the situation along the LAC in Western Sector of India-China border areas and also reviewed the developments since the last meeting of the Senior Commanders of both sides which was held on October 10.
They agreed on the need to find an early resolution to the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols so as to restore peace and tranquility, said the MEA readout.
October 10 Meeting
The last military commanders meeting on October 10, which was the 13th, had ended in a stalemate with both Foreign Offices accusing each other of insincerity. The MEA said The Chinese side was not agreeable to India’s constructive suggestions and also could not provide any forward-looking proposals.
The PLA resorted to half-measures to resolve the disengagement in Hot Springs area by refusing to move back to permanent bases or restoring status quo ante as existed in April 2020. In May 2020, the PLA using huge volume of troops unilaterally changed the ground positions on north banks of Pangong Tso, Galwan, Gogra and Hot Springs in East Ladakh in a bid to impose rejected 1959 line along the 1597 kilometre Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.
The talks also failed as the Chinese had replaced Gen. Xu Qiling, who was promoted in July, with Gen. Wang Haijiang, and that as a result a “comfort level” had not been achieved. Gen. Wang is the fourth commander to head the Western Theatre Command since the stand-off began.
Channels of Communication
Ever since the LAC stand-off began in April-May 2020, both sides have mainly followed a three-tier approach — regular talks at the diplomatic and military levels, along with a dialogue track between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. Talks were also held between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi. It was Doval and Yang who agreed to a disengagement plan in 2020.
India and China have six to seven hotlines but there has been little progress in the talks. A larger plan to resolve the issue with the establishment of a hotline at the DGMO level remains unfulfilled.
Sticky Issues
While disengagement has taken place in the Pangong Tso area and at the Gogra Post, a stand-off continues over Patrolling Point 15 (PP15) in Hot Springs, the Depsang Plains and in the Demchok area.
Hot Springs and Demchok continue to pose challenges. The Chinese have now made it a sovereignty issue. Earlier they said this was just a territorial issue.
China watchers believe that the PLA will continue to drag its feet over disengagement in Hot Springs and will require a whole lot of persuasion from the Indian side to restoring patrolling rights in Depsang Bulge and CNJ area south of Demchok. The Indian side, on its part, is also in no hurry with its formations matching the PLA build-up across the LAC. Rather than seeking compromise solutions as in the past, the Modi government will not back down from enforcing its just legal claims on the LAC. The Indian Army is also closely watching the Central and Eastern sector to counter any transgression from the PLA along the full 3488-km LAC.
