The 18th round of Military Commander level talks between India and China took place on Sunday at Chushul-Moldo in Ladakh sector.
This meeting is being held to resolve the three-year-old military deadlock between the two countries.
Defence sources said that the meeting is being headed by Fire and Fury Corps Commander Lt Gen Rashim Bali from the Indian side.
An officer of equivalent rank from the Chinese side is also involved in the meeting. This meeting is happening after five months.
The last Corps Commander level meeting between the two sides was held in December last year.
The meeting is taking place when both sides are engaged in rapid construction activities in the border area to strengthen their respective positions.
The Indian side has been repeatedly raising the issue of Depsang plains, Demchok and retreat of both the sides.
The Chinese side tried to change the status quo on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in 2020 by moving aggressively with heavy weapons and large numbers.
India also responded by deploying troops. Both sides, however, later retreated and moved to new sites. Thereafter, Corps Commander-level talks began between the two sides in the eastern Ladakh region to resolve matters.
In the Chinese talks blocking Indian patrolling the two sides have agreed to remain in close contact and maintain dialogue through military and diplomatic channels and seek to find a mutually acceptable solution to the remaining issues at the earliest.
However, the Chinese side does not seem to be in a hurry to resolve the issues and is not allowing any further progress on heritage issues like the Depsang Plains.
They have been preventing Indian patrols from visiting their patrol points in that area for a long time.
China’s Defense Minister is coming to visit India next week for the meetings of the Defence Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
The chances of easing tensions between the two sides in the near future seem bleak.
The Indian side continues to maintain heavy deployment in the area against any Chinese attempt to change the status quo.
A Chinese contingent was forcefully pushed back into its territory after trying to come across Indian posts on the LAC there.
