China has withdrawn its troops by at least a kilometre in the tense Galwan river valley in eastern Ladakh, where 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a deadly brawl with Chinese troops on June 15, Indian sources said yesterday.
Indian soldiers have also pulled back and a buffer zone has been created between the troops of both sides to prevent escalation. “We will need to wait to see if this is a lasting, genuine disengagement,” the sources told AFP.
China’s People’s Liberation Army was seen removing tents and structures at patrolling point 14, near the place where the clashes took place, they said.
The one-km withdrawal by China came after special representatives of India and China agreed to disengage, “take guidance from the consensus of leaders” and “not allow differences to become disputes,” they added.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who had a conversation over phone on Sunday, decided that both sides should “strictly respect and observe” the Line of Actual Control — the de facto border between India and China — and should not take any unilateral action to alter the status quo, the Indian government said.
The two sides agreed that “it was necessary to ensure at the earliest complete disengagement of the troops along the LAC and de-escalation from India-China border areas”, New Delhi said in a statement.
“In this regard they further agreed that both sides should complete the ongoing disengagement process along the LAC expeditiously,” the statement added.
In response to a question on whether China had moved back equipment in the Galwan valley, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said both sides were “taking effective measures to disengage and ease the situation on the border”.
“We hope India will meet China halfway and take concrete measures to carry out what both sides agreed to, continue to closely communicate through diplomatic and military channels, and work together to cool down the situation at the border,” Zhao told a news conference yesterday.
Reports of the pull back in the last 24 hours have emerged three days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise visit to a Ladakh forward post, where he addressed thousands of troops and asserted, without naming China, that “the age of expansionism is over and expansionist forces have either lost or were forced to turn back.”
Last Wednesday, commanders of the Indian and Chinese armies met for a third round of talks after the Galwan Valley clash. The talks went on for 12 hours.
The Lieutenant-General-level talks have focused on reducing tension at the LAC after weeks of a tense face-off including physical fights in early May at another disputed hotspot in Sikkim.
The progress from talks, sources had said, would be dependent upon China agreeing to move back to its positions before the tension in the area started building-up in April.
Recent satellite images are proof of multiple Chinese intrusions across the LAC and the deployment of heavy weaponry and Chinese construction activity. The images, widely used by Indian media, had indicated that the Chinese had illegally occupied 423 metres of Indian territory in the Galwan valley.☁
