Indian and Chinese soldiers have begun to pull back from a friction point along their disputed Himalayan border following a meeting between top military commanders from both sides, the Indian Ministry of Defense said on Thursday.
“According to the consensus reached in the 16th round of India China Corps Commander Level Meeting, the Indian and Chinese troops in the area of Gogra-Hotsprings have begun to disengage,” the ministry said in a statement.
The move “is conducive to the peace and tranquility in the border areas,” it said.
Photo: AP
The Chinese Ministry of National Defense issued a similar statement.
Military commanders from both sides have held 16 rounds of talks since the worst clashes in more than 40 years between the two nuclear-armed neighbors erupted in the summer of 2020.
The site of the latest disengagement is near the area where at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed in June 2020.
It is also the most significant effort to diffuse tensions since both sides moved back troops from another disputed border point in August last year.
The last round of dialog was held in July.
Both sides have moved back troops from a few friction areas along their disputed 3,488km border — but tens of thousands of soldiers remain deployed toe-to-toe in the hostile terrain.
The disengagement process has been slow and incremental because the two sides cannot agree on the specifics. China is not in favor of completely pulling back from the friction points, but wants both countries to move additional troops, artillery guns and tanks back to their original bases.
India, which has more mountainous terrain along the border, wants the opposite — disengage regular forces from friction points, leaving only reserve troops and material behind in the disputed areas.
For New Delhi, moving troops close to the border takes longer than it does for Beijing.
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