India and China will hold talks at the level of Lieutenant Generals later this week in an effort to resolve the tensions on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), sources said.
The Indian side will be represented by the General Officer Commanding of the Leh headquartered 14 Corps that covers Eastern Ladakh, the sources said. The meeting will take place at one of the designated border meeting points.
The groundwork for this was laid at the third meeting at the level of Major Generals held on Tuesday, it has been learnt. Ahead of the important talks, Northern Army Commander Lt. Gen. YK Joshi is in Leh, the sources said. He was earlier supposed to reach Leh on Tuesday but that got delayed.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said negotiations were on at the military level to resolve the issue and on June 6, there would be talks between senior military officers.
Daily discussions are on between the militaries on the ground at various levels, including at the Brigadier level and twice by Major Generals earlier. But there has been no breakthrough so far to end the impasse.
Transgressions and with that face- offs tend to increase sharply in summers as both sides increase their patrols. According to data, there were 273 transgressions by Chinese troops in 2016, 426 in 2017, 326 in 2018 and 356 in 2019.
A proposal to set up a hotline between senior officers to resolve such issues quickly has been held up for several years due to procedural differences. In January last, Army Chief Gen. Manoj Naravane stated that all issues had been resolved and the procedural aspects ironed out. The hotline would be between the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) from India and China’s Western Theatre Command.
For close to a month now, Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in stand-offs at several locations along the LAC after Chinese troops moved into Indian territory at Pangong Tso, Galwan Nalah, Hot Springs in Eastern Ladakh and Naku La in Sikkim. Chinese troops have set up tents and brought in equipment inside at some places while also building up their presence close to Indian positions on their side of the border. China had moved in large number of troops, vehicles and equipment for annual exercise on their side and they were moved in quickly at various points along the LAC, sources said.
