India and China have agreed not to further escalate the border situation through a series of measures, which significantly include not sending more troops to forward areas, but a tangible breakthrough on de-escalation eluded the marathon military commander-level talks held last week.
The test of the joint statement issued will lie in actual Chinese actions in disengaging and de-escalating along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, in accordance with the "consensus" reached between foreign minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on September 10.
The 14-hour dialogue between delegations led by 14 Corps commander Lt-General Harinder Singh and South Xinjiang Military District chief Major General Liu Lin, did not lead to any forward movement in defusing the almost five-month long troop confrontation, sources said.
The joint statement signalled a more positive outcome, with the two countries agreeing to “earnestly implement the important consensus” reached earlier between PM Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping to maintain peace along the LAC. The Jaishankar-Wang talks had also agreed to both sides taking actions to "quickly disengage" in the high-altitude region, where both sides have amassed well over 50,000 soldiers each as well as tanks, armoured vehicles, howitzers and surface-to-air missiles systems.
As per the joint statement, the two armies will refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground and taking any actions that may complicate matters. They will also strengthen communication between the local commanders to avoid “misunderstandings and misjudgments”.
The statement seems to signal that the current standstill may continue, with senior government sources hinting that "apex leadership" level discussions may be needed to break the logjam.
The two sides agreed to hold the seventh round of military commander-level meeting as soon as possible, take practical measures to properly solve problems on the ground, and jointly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border area.
Sources, however, said there was “hardly any meeting ground” on actual troop disengagement and de-escalation during the military talks, which included diplomatic representation from India for the first time. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA), in fact, has assiduously used the cover of diplomatic and military talks to crank up its troop and logistics build-up in the region.
At the military talks, India pressed for a concrete roadmap for “complete de-escalation” at the immediate face-off sites as well as the ‘depth areas’ along the entire frontier in eastern Ladakh.
