India, China hold talks on remaining border issues in Eastern Ladakh
India and China held talks on resolving the two remaining border flashpoints in eastern Ladakh, days after positive and constructive discussions at the corps commander level. The talks on Friday were held at the Major General level at Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) and Chushul. DBO is located near the Depsang plains where India and China have been in a border standoff since 2020 with PLA troops blocking access to border patrolling points.
Chinese troops have restricted Indian access by occupying a feature named bottleneck, cutting off an over 700 sq km disputed area regularly patrolled by both sides earlier. Access to patrolling points 10-13 has been blocked and this remains the biggest border flashpoint yet to be resolved. Chushul is close to Demchock, where a relatively minor issue exists at the Charding Nalla.
Tents have been pitched by so-called civilians on the disputed territory since 2018. Other areas that emerged as flashpoints during the 2020 crisis, including the Finger area at Pangong Tso, Galwan valley, Gogra, Kailash mountains and Hotsprings have already been de-escalated. According to defence establishment insiders, the Indian side was represented by major general PK Mishra and major general Hariharan.
On August 13 and 14, Indian and Chinese corps commanders had positive and constructive talks to address remaining issues on the Line of Actual Control, with both sides agreeing that resolution needs to be carried out expeditiously. Sunday's was the 19th round of India-China corps commander level meeting, held at Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Indian side. The statement issued on Tuesday hinted that there was progress towards an early resolution.
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