New Delhi:

Dismissing reports that military talks between India and China on the modalities of patrols have reached a deadlock in eastern Ladakh’s Depsang, the Indian Army has said no roadblocks or objections have been faced and termed the articles “speculative and bereft of facts”. 

In a post on X on Thursday, the Additional Directorate General of Public Information of the Army said some reports on Wednesday and Thursday had speculated about roadblocks in the disengagement process in Depsang and Demchok after an agreement between India and China last month.

“It is unambiguously stated that the disengagement at Depsang and Demchok has been completed and implementation of consensus, as agreed to, is being undertaken in a planned manner that includes resumption of patrolling to traditional patrolling areas. There are no roadblocks/objections from either side that have been faced in this process,” the Army said.

Certain Media Articles on 06-07 November 2024 have speculated about roadblocks/objections in the disengagement process consequent to the consensus between the Indian and Chinese sides on 21 October 24. It is unambiguously stated that the disengagement at Depsang and Demchok has… pic.twitter.com/SHxT8Mvmf2

— ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) November 7, 2024

It also cautioned the concerned media houses to authenticate facts on sensitive issues to ensure no misleading information is published,

“The articles published in this regard are speculative and bereft of facts. The concerned media houses are requested to verify and authenticate facts before publishing such sensitive articles and exercise due editorial discretion so that no unsubstantiated or misleading information is propagated,” the post said. 

On October 21, India had announced that a patrolling agreement had been reached for the two contentious areas of Depsang and Demchok and the troops would return to the positions that existed before the stand-off between the two countries began in 2020. The disengagement process included the dismantling of structures and the restoration of the land on which they stood to their original condition. 

“We reached an agreement on patrolling, and we have gone back to the 2020 position. With that, we can say the disengagement with China has been completed… There are areas which, for various reasons after 2020, they blocked us, we blocked them. We have now reached an understanding which will allow patrolling as we had been doing till 2020,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said. 

The disengagement process was completed last month and the Army and the government had said last week that patrolling has begun in both Depsang and Demchok. 

The Indian Army today “successfully completed” patrolling to one of the patrol points in the Depsang region of Ladakh following a consensus between the Indian and Chinese troops last month over patrolling arrangements in Demchock and Depsang.

The 14 Corps, also known as the Fire and Fury Corps, gave an update and said, “Following the consensus reached between the Indian and Chinese Side for disengagement and resumption of patrolling in Depsang and Demchok, the Indian Army patrol to one of the patrolling points in Depsang was successfully conducted today.” 

“This is yet another positive step towards maintaining peace and tranquillity on the LAC,” the Fire and Fury Corps said.

The Ministry of External Affairs in its briefing last week said, the verification patrolling has commenced in the two regions – Demchok in eastern Ladakh and Depsang in the north – making way for coordinated patrolling to begin.

The breakthrough was announced a day before Prime Minister Modi was scheduled to leave for the BRICS Summit in Russia, where he held bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit.

On October 21, the MEA announced that the “last phase of disengagement was agreed upon between India and China” over patrolling arrangements in the two regions and the troops would return to the positions that existed before the stand-off in 2020, which saw a violent clash in the Galwan valley and standoff in the Pangong Tso region and Gogra Hot Springs and heavy troop and armour deployment in the region. 

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar confirmed the announcement at the NDTV World Summit that day and said “We reached an agreement on patrolling, and we have gone back to the 2020 position. With that, we can say the disengagement with China has been completed… There are areas which, for various reasons after 2020, they blocked us, we blocked them. We have now reached an understanding which will allow patrolling as we had been doing till 2020.”

In 2021, the two sides completed disengagement on the north and south bank of the Pangong Tso (lake) in eastern Ladakh after Corps Commander level talks. A year later, In September 2022, Indian and Chinese troops withdrew from the contentious Gogra-Hot Springs area in Ladakh and returned to the pre-April-2020 position.

On Diwali, Indian and Chinese troops stationed at the Line of Actual Control exchanged sweets and sources had told NDTV that the verification process is on and the modalities of patrolling will be decided by the ground commanders.

Satellite Images

The disengagement process included the dismantling of structures and the restoration of the land on which they stood to their original condition. 

Days after the agreement was announced, NDTV had accessed the first satellite images proving that structures were being removed by the Chinese side. 

An image from the Depsang plains taken on October 11 showed four vehicles and two tents and, in another from October 25, the tents were gone and the vehicles could be seen moving away. The images were of an area near the ‘Y Junction’ from where Indian soldiers were prevented from travelling east to India’s patrolling points, which mark the extent of the Line of Actual Control that India claims in these areas. 

Another set of images showed semi-permanent Chinese structures being removed from Demchok.

New Delhi:

The Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday said that verification patrolling has commenced in Demchok and Depsang, paving the way for coordinated patrolling to begin once the disengagement is fully finalized.

This development follows an agreement reached on October 21, 2024, between India and China on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, bringing an end to the over four-year military standoff.

Speaking at a weekly press briefing, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “On October 21, 2024, the last phase of disengagement was agreed upon between India and China. As a result, verification patrolling has commenced on mutually agreed terms in Demchok and Depsang. We will keep you updated.”

Notably, in a significant diplomatic development, India and China held their first bilateral talks in five years on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, marking a crucial step towards mending the strained relations between the two neighbouring countries, which have been marred by a prolonged military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

Mr Jaiswal said, “The meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping took place in Kazan. It was bilaterally arranged.”

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri while addressing the media in Kazan, stated that “this agreement is the outcome of extensive discussions over the past several weeks with Chinese interlocutors at both diplomatic and military levels.”

He noted that military commanders have been involved in negotiations aimed at addressing the tensions that have persisted since 2020.

Mr Misri explained that the agreement signifies a path toward disengagement and a potential resolution of the issues that arose during the significant confrontations in 2020.

He recalled the clashes that occurred between the People’s Liberation Army of China and the Indian Army, particularly highlighting the violent encounters in June 2020, which resulted in casualties on both sides.

“On several areas along the Line of Actual Control, we held discussions with Chinese interlocutors both on diplomatic as well as the military levels through meeting with military commanders at various levels. These discussions had in the past resulted in the resolution of standoffs at various locations. There are some locations and areas where stand-offs had not been resolved,” said Misri.

The disengagement is seen as the first concrete step towards restoring the pre-2020 status quo ante. The Galwan Valley clash in June 2020, resulting in casualties on both sides, was the most severe conflict between the two nations in decades. Additionally, agreements have been reached in other sectors along the LAC.

India and China emphasised the importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity at the border, underscoring that mutual trust, respect, and sensitivity should form the foundation of their relationship. PM Modi highlighted that the restoration of peace in the border areas is essential for the normalisation of bilateral relations.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Despite the patrolling agreement with China, which was announced earlier this week, it will take time to rebuild trust and for the two countries to be willing to work with each other, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.

During an interaction with students from a university in Pune on Saturday, Mr Jaishankar said the breakthrough with China was possible because the military enabled India to stand its ground and make its point and diplomacy also did its part. A focus on infrastructure in border areas, which enabled effective deployment of the military, also played a key role.

Responding to a question on the patrolling and disengagement agreement in the Depsang and Demchok areas in Eastern Ladakh and what can be expected from the future of India-China relations, the minister said, “From 2020, the situation at the border has been very disturbed and that has, understandably, had a very negative impact on the overall relationship. Since September 2020, we have been negotiating with the Chinese on how to find a solution.”

Mr Jaishankar said there were different aspects to the solution but the pressing one was disengagement because “the troops are very very close up to each other and the possibility of something happening, god forbid, is there”. The other aspects, he said are de-escalation, given the troop buildup by China and India’s response to it, and the larger question of boundary settlement.

The focus, for now, is disengagement, the minister said, stressing that while there had been understandings in some areas after 2020, blocking of patrolling remained an issue which was being negotiated for two years.  

“So, what happened on October 21 was that in Depsang and Demchok, we came to the understanding that patrolling would be resumed how it used to be before… This was important because it was an affirmation that if we can do the disengagement, then it is possible for the leadership level to meet, which is what happened (with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting) in Russia’s Kazan during the BRICS summit,” he said during the interaction at FLAME University in Pune.

Future Of Ties

On the question of where the India-China relationship goes from here, Mr Jaishankar said, “I think it is a bit early. We have to wait for things to settle themselves. Because, after four years of a very disturbed border where peace and tranquillity have been shattered, it will naturally take time to rebuild a degree of trust and a willingness to work with each other.”

“If we have reached where we have today, there are two reasons for it. The first is a very determined effort on our part to stand our ground and make our point and this would only happen because the military was there in very, very unimaginable conditions to defend the country. The military did its part and diplomacy did its part,” he emphasised.

The second reason, the minister said, was the importance given to improving infrastructure in the border areas in the past decade. 

“Today, we have put in almost five times annually the resources that would be there a decade ago. That’s showing results and that enables the military to be effectively deployed. I would be patient. When PM Modi and President Xi met, it was decided that the foreign ministers and national security advisers would meet and see how this should be taken forward,” he explained. 

Process On

NDTV had reported on Friday on satellite images showing tents and semi-permanent structures being removed by the Chinese side in Depsang and Demchok. 

The patrolling agreement had been announced by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Monday and army sources had said on Friday that the process of disengagement would be completed in the two contentious areas by October 29. PM Modi and Mr Jinping welcomed the agreement when they met on Wednesday.

The stand-off between the Indian and Chinese armies began on May 2020 and a deadly clash took place in Ladakh’s Galwan the next month in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in action and an unspecified number on the Chinese side also died. 

A troop buildup followed and, after months of talks, Indian and Chinese troops withdrew from the contentious Gogra-Hot Springs area in Ladakh in September 2022 and returned to the pre-April-2020 position.

New Delhi:

Despite the patrolling agreement with China, which was announced earlier this week, it will take time to rebuild trust and for the two countries to be willing to work with each other, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.

During an interaction with students from a university in Pune on Saturday, Mr Jaishankar said the breakthrough with China was possible because the military enabled India to stand its ground and make its point and diplomacy also did its part. A focus on infrastructure in border areas, which enabled effective deployment of the military, also played a key role.

Responding to a question on the patrolling and disengagement agreement in the Depsang and Demchok areas in Eastern Ladakh and what can be expected from the future of India-China relations, the minister said, “From 2020, the situation at the border has been very disturbed and that has, understandably, had a very negative impact on the overall relationship. Since September 2020, we have been negotiating with the Chinese on how to find a solution.”

Mr Jaishankar said there were different aspects to the solution but the pressing one was disengagement because “the troops are very very close up to each other and the possibility of something happening, god forbid, is there”. The other aspects, he said are de-escalation, given the troop buildup by China and India’s response to it, and the larger question of boundary settlement.

The focus, for now, is disengagement, the minister said, stressing that while there had been understandings in some areas after 2020, blocking of patrolling remained an issue which was being negotiated for two years.  

“So, what happened on October 21 was that in Depsang and Demchok, we came to the understanding that patrolling would be resumed how it used to be before… This was important because it was an affirmation that if we can do the disengagement, then it is possible for the leadership level to meet, which is what happened (with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting) in Russia’s Kazan during the BRICS summit,” he said during the interaction at FLAME University in Pune.

Future Of Ties

On the question of where the India-China relationship goes from here, Mr Jaishankar said, “I think it is a bit early. We have to wait for things to settle themselves. Because, after four years of a very disturbed border where peace and tranquillity have been shattered, it will naturally take time to rebuild a degree of trust and a willingness to work with each other.”

“If we have reached where we have today, there are two reasons for it. The first is a very determined effort on our part to stand our ground and make our point and this would only happen because the military was there in very, very unimaginable conditions to defend the country. The military did its part and diplomacy did its part,” he emphasised.

The second reason, the minister said, was the importance given to improving infrastructure in the border areas in the past decade. 

“Today, we have put in almost five times annually the resources that would be there a decade ago. That’s showing results and that enables the military to be effectively deployed. I would be patient. When PM Modi and President Xi met, it was decided that the foreign ministers and national security advisers would meet and see how this should be taken forward,” he explained. 

Process On

NDTV had reported on Friday on satellite images showing tents and semi-permanent structures being removed by the Chinese side in Depsang and Demchok. 

The patrolling agreement had been announced by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Monday and army sources had said on Friday that the process of disengagement would be completed in the two contentious areas by October 29. PM Modi and Mr Jinping welcomed the agreement when they met on Wednesday.

The stand-off between the Indian and Chinese armies began on May 2020 and a deadly clash took place in Ladakh’s Galwan the next month in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in action and an unspecified number on the Chinese side also died. 

A troop buildup followed and, after months of talks, Indian and Chinese troops withdrew from the contentious Gogra-Hot Springs area in Ladakh in September 2022 and returned to the pre-April-2020 position.

Days after India announced that a patrolling arrangement had been reached with China, NDTV has accessed the first satellite images of disengagement taking place on the ground in Depsang and Demchok in Eastern Ladakh. 

The agreement was announced on Monday and a satellite image from the Depsang plains taken on October 11 shows four vehicles and two tents.

Another image taken on Friday shows that the tents have been removed and the vehicles are moving away. The land on which the tents stood has also been restored.

The high-resolution images have been provided by Maxar. 

The images from Depsang are from near the ‘Y Junction’ from where Indian soldiers were prevented from travelling east to India’s patrolling points. The patrolling points, or PPs, mark the extent of the Line of Actual Control that India claims in these areas. 

In a similar satellite image from Demchok from October 9, semi-permanent Chinese structures can be seen.

The same structures are missing in an image from the disputed site on Friday. 

Army sources had said earlier in the day that the process of disengagement would be completed in the two contentious areas by Tuesday, October 29,  and the troops would return to the positions that existed before the stand-off between the two countries began in 2020. The process includes the dismantling of structures and restoring the land on which they stood to their original condition. 

Sources said both India and China will continue to have surveillance options in Depsang and Demchok, and troops will inform the other side before stepping out on patrol “to avoid any miscommunication”.

The stand-off began in May 2020 and a clash took place in Ladakh’s Galwan the next month in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in action and the Chinese side also suffered losses, with the exact number remaining unconfirmed.

A troop buildup followed on both sides and military-level talks began taking place to resolve the stand-off. In September 2022, Indian and Chinese troops withdrew from the contentious Gogra-Hot Springs area in Ladakh and returned to the pre-April-2020 position.

‘Peace And Stability’

After the announcement by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Monday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar confirmed it at the NDTV World Summit. 

“We reached an agreement on patrolling, and we have gone back to the 2020 position. With that, we can say the disengagement with China has been completed. Details will come out in due course,” Mr Jaishankar said. 

“There are areas which, for various reasons after 2020, they blocked us, we blocked them. We have now reached an understanding which will allow patrolling as we had been doing till 2020,” he added. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi then met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia – their first bilateral since 2019 – on Wednesday and they welcomed the agreement. “It should be our priority to ensure there is peace and stability along our border,” PM Modi told Mr Jinping.