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.

New Delhi:

Indian and Chinese troops will complete disengagement – in the Depsang and Demchok areas of Ladakh – and fall back to pre-April 2020 positions by Tuesday, Army sources said this afternoon.

Troops from both sides will fall back to pre-April 2020 positions and all temporary infrastructure – sheds or tents – will be removed, while ground commanders will continue to hold regular meetings.

Sources said each side will also continue to have surveillance options in the Depsang and Demchok areas, and will inform the other prior to stepping out on patrol “to avoid any miscommunication”.

India and China reached a patrolling agreement last week – for these regions only – that will, hopefully, put an end to over four years of military and diplomatic tension arising from the Line of Actual Control.

That tension was fuelled by a series of military skirmishes in the Pangong Lake area in May 2020 and included the clash in Ladakh’s Galwan in June, in which 20 Indian soldiers died for their country.

NDTV Explains | India-China Border Patrol Deal: What Is It, Why Is It Important

In the weeks and months following the Galwan violence both countries ramped up military presence along the LAC, the de facto international border; in August last year it was reported that Delhi had airlifted nearly 70,000 soldiers, over 90 tanks, and hundreds of infantry combat vehicles, as well as deploying Sukhoi and Jaguar fighter jets in eastern Ladakh, for rapid deployment in the region.

Beijing had similarly deployed soldiers “in considerable numbers all across Eastern Ladakh and the Northern Front, right up to (India’s) Eastern Command”, the Army had said earlier.

On the disengagement and de-escalation process, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi said this week that the Indian military is “trying to restore trust” in its Chinese counterpart.

READ | “Trying To Restore Trust”: Army Chief On India-China Patrolling Deal

“This (rebuilding of trust) will happen once we are able to see each other, and convince and reassure each other, that we are not creeping into buffer zones that have been created,” the General said.

The patrolling agreement was announced – hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia for the BRICS summit where he would hold a bilateral with China’s Xi Jinping.

READ | PM Modi, Xi Welcome “Complete Disengagement” Along LAC

Speaking after it was confirmed, Mr Modi told the Chinese leader, “It should be our priority to ensure there is peace and stability along our border”, and stressed the need for “mutual trust, mutual respect”.

Earlier External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told NDTV the agreement was the result of “patient and persevering diplomacy”. Speaking at NDTV’s World Summit, he said, “I think it creates a basis for peace and tranquillity along the border, which was there before 2020…”

De-escalation is still a concern in other areas, including the Gogra-Hot Springs area in Ladakh, after Indian and Chinese forces backed down in September last year. However, intel indicates China continues to hold large swathes of Indian territory to the north, in the Depsang plains area.

Depsang is seen as critical for India since it provides access to the airstrip at Daulat Beg Oldie and prevents Chinese troops from threatening vital logistics centres in the area. Demchok, meanwhile is divided in two by the LAC; India controls the western part, which is claimed by China.

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