China confirms agreement to end standoff in eastern Ladakh

BEIJING: China on Tuesday confirmed that it has reached an agreement with India to end the standoff between the two armies in eastern Ladakh.

“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 spokesman Lin Jian told a media briefing here.

Lin was asked for a response to Monday’s Indian announcement about reaching an agreement to end the over four-year long military standoff.

Now, the two sides have reached a resolution on the “relevant matters,” he said.

He added China will work with India to implement it but declined to provide details.

Pressed further to reveal more details, Lin said “I’ve answered that question and have nothing more to add”.

There was no immediate reaction from the Chinese side after India on Monday announced it has reached an agreement with China on patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, a major breakthrough in ending the over four-year-long military standoff between the two armies.

The Chinese official media too did not report the Indian announcement.

Significantly, both sides declined to provide details.

The confirmation from the Chinese side came only after President Xi Jinping left for the BRICS summit in Russia's Kazan on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Lin, for the second day on Tuesday, parried the question on the bilateral meeting between Modi and Xi saying, “On the bilateral meeting you mentioned ... China will release timely information if anything comes up”.

The ties between the two Asian giants nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said Indian and Chinese soldiers will be able to resume patrolling in the way they had been doing before the border face-off began and the disengagement process with China has been completed.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, at a media briefing in New Delhi on Monday, said the agreement was firmed up following negotiations by the two sides over the last several weeks and that it will lead to a resolution of the issues that had arisen in 2020.

"Over the last several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other in a variety of forums," the foreign secretary said.

"As a result of these discussions, agreement has been arrived at patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas, leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020," Misri added.

The standoff began with the Chinese military moving thousands of its troops which were conducting exercises to the areas of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) prompting a strong response from Indian army.

After prolonged military and diplomatic talks the two sides have agreed to disengage from four points, namely the Galwan Valley, the Pangong Lake, Hot Springs, and Gogra in eastern Ladakh but the talks prolonged as India pressed for similar disengagement in Depsang and Demchok.

It is understood that the agreement will facilitate patrolling in Depsang and Demchok areas as there were major unresolved issues in these two areas.

Last month, both India and China had announced that the “front-line armies of the two countries have realised disengagement in four areas in the Western sector of the China-India border, including the Galwan Valley”, the scene of violent clashes in June 2020 breaking over four decades of peace along the 3,488 km long LAC.

The agreement to disengage from all points in Eastern Ladakh was expected to facilitate normalisation of frosen relations between the two countries.