India and China are scheduled to hold the 11th round of Corps Commander talks on Friday to discuss the second phase of disengagement in Eastern Ladakh.
The talks will be held at Chushul and scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m., a defence source said on Thursday.
There could be some movement on on the issue of disengagement from Patrolling Points (PP) at Gogra and Hotsprings during the talks, a second source said.
In February, the two sides reached an agreement and completed the first phase of disengagement on the north and south banks of Panngong Tso. Within 48 hrs the 10th round of talks were held to take forward the process during which they agreed to push for a mutually acceptable solution of remaining issues in a “steady and orderly” manner to jointly maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas.
However, no agreement has so far been reached on the second phase of disengagement.
With disengagement now complete at Pangong Tso, the focus of the talks will be to work out a phased disengagement plan for the other friction areas in Eastern Ladakh. These include Gogra, Hot Springs, Depsang and Demchok. Partial disengagement has already been undertaken by both sides from Gogra and Hot Springs last July before tensions flared up on the South bank of Pangong Tso.
Responding to questions on the talks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in Beijing that India and China were in communication for holding the 11th round of talks and there was no delay in the meeting.
“I want to stress that the merit of the situation at India-China border are very clear and the responsibility does not rest with the Chinese side. We hope Indian side will work with China to follow through the important consensus of our two leaders, abide by relevant agreements and treaties to de-escalate the tension at the border,” Mr. Zhao said.
