India-China 12th Corps-Commander meet tomorrow; disengagement from Gogra Post, Hot Springs top the agenda!

New Delhi: India and China are set to conduct 12th round of Corps-Commander level military talks at Moldo on Saturday morning in the wake of ongoing 15-month long standoff between Indian and Chinese forces at the Line of Actual Control. The last round of Corps-Commander level talks took place on April 9 whose outcomes were held inconclusive.

While both Indian and Chinese troops had disengaged from north and south banks of Pangong Tso and the Kailash range in the month of February this year, the Chinese had refused to pull back from Hot Springs and Gogra Post.
"The two sides had a detailed exchange of views for the resolution of the remaining issues related to disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh," Indian army had said in an official statement in April this year after the 11th round of talks between the two sides. "The two sides agreed on the need to resolve the outstanding issues in an expeditious manner in accordance with the existing agreements and protocols," the statement had added.

On July 22, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said in its weekly presser that External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar in his recent meeting with his Chinese counterpart had agreed that the next round of the military commander-level talks should be convened "at the earliest".

"External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi on July 14 in Dushanbe on the sidelines of the SCO Foreign Ministers' meeting. The two leaders agreed that the next round of the military commander-level talks should be convened at the earliest," the External Affairs Ministry had said.

Reports claim that the two sides are likely to discuss the disengagement from the Hot Springs and Gogra post areas in eastern Ladakh.

In the first week of May 2020 the Indian Army troops and Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) men clashed at the Finger 4 on the North bank of the Pangong Pso, following which a standoff between the two country's forces expanded to Hotspring, Gogra, Galwan, Depsang and Demchok. The standoff heightened to a bloodied skirmish on June 20 last year, leading to deaths on both the sides.