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Bloomberg
India will insist that China demolish recent construction and withdraw soldiers from a disputed border area as the two neighbours begin talks to end a stalemate that began in April, officials with knowledge of the matter said.
The South Asian nation, at a meeting of senior defense officials on Saturday, will offer to remove construction done at the border in May and revert to level of military deployment as of April as long as China reciprocates, the officials said asking not to be identified citing rules on speaking to the media. The meeting is taking place at the Chushul-Moldo Military Garrison along the disputed border in Ladakh, they said.
The armies are currently on high-alert at two locations along the Line of Actual Control — the 3,488 kilometre unmarked boundary between India and China. Additional troops have been rushed to the border by both sides, the officials said. They are facing each other at the Galwan River, which was one of the early triggers of the 1962 India-China war, and at the disputed Pangong Tso — a glacial lake at 14,000 feet in the Tibetan plateau, portions of which are claimed by both.
India won’t stop building roads and bridges inside its territory, the officials said. An Indian Army spokesman was not available for a comment.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration doesn’t want to get drawn in an increasingly hostile campaign started by US aimed at isolating China globally over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. A group of senior lawmakers from eight democracies including the US have launched a new cross-parliamentary alliance to help counter what they say is the threat China’s growing influence poses to global trade, security and human rights.
Still, the border dispute between India and China is likely to simmer.
The meeting will be a “first step to understand what China wants. Simultaneous incidents indicate China is acting as per a plan that has Beijing’s clearance,†said Jayadeva Ranade, member of the National Security Council Advisory Board and head of the Centre for China Analysis & Strategy.