A day after India announced that it had reached an agreement with China on the resumption of patrolling at friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh to pre-Galwan face-off position of May 2020, Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi suggested a graded response, underlining that “we are trying to restore trust”.

The “disengagement”, “de-escalation and normal management of the LAC” will follow subsequently, General Dwivedi said during an interaction with media after delivering a lecture hosted by defence think tank USI.

Steps to follow

“As far as we are concerned, we want to go back to status quo of April 2020. Thereafter, we will be looking at disengagement, de-escalation and normal management of LAC. The normal management of LAC will not stop there. There are phases in that also. This has been our stance since April 2020 when Lt Gen YK Joshi was the Army Commander and even today that remains the same,” the Chief of Army Staff said in his first response to the announcement of easing of tensions at the border in Eastern Ladakh.

“We are trying to restore the trust. How will that get restored? Trust will get restored if we are able to see each other. And we are able to convince each other… that we are not creeping into the buffer zones. Both (sides) have to reassure each other. Patrolling gives you that kind of advantage. So that is something which is commencing. And as we restore the trust, other stages will follow soon,” the General explained.

On Monday, India announced an agreement with China on restarting patrolling suspended since the face-off with Chinese PLA in Galwan in May 2020.

While the two sides have resolved four friction points – the Galwan Valley, the Pangong Lake, Hot Springs, and Gogra – for mutual disengagement of troops, Depsang plains and Demchok remain the points to contention in Eastern Ladakh.

China’s response

China on Tuesday came out with a guarded statement on ending the stand-off at the LAC in eastern Ladakh and stated, as per a news agency report, that the two countries have reached a resolution on “relevant matters”.

“Over a recent period of time, China and India have kept close communication through diplomatic and military channels on issues related to the China-India border,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in Beijing in response to a query on India’s announcement on the breakthrough in resumption of patrolling.

Lin did not mention the understanding on patrolling at the LAC nor did he offer any further insight into the breaking of ice at the border as he merely stated to more queries that “I’ve answered that question and have nothing more to add”.

According to a news agency report, the Chinese official media did not report the Indian government’s announcement on the border issue.

Related Topics