Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will meet Chinese counterpart Dong Jun – the first ministerial-level meeting since the two militaries completed disengagement in eastern Ladakh last month and the India resumed patrolling in the Depsang region last week – sources told NDTV Friday.
Mr Singh and Mr Dong, a former naval Commander appointed in December last year, will meet on the sidelines of a two-day, 10-nation ASEAN summit in Laos that begins November 20.
This will also be the first time the Defence Ministers have met since April last year, when China’s Li Shangfu travelled to Delhi for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.
The meeting is being seen as a key confidence-building measure as Delhi and Beijing rebuild bridges burnt after violence in the Galwan and Pangong Lake areas in May and June 2020, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in action and both sides ramped up military deployment.
This is the second in a series of planned high-level meetings – after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping met in Russia last month – NDTV has learned, each of which will be seen as another step in what will be an extended deepening of India-China engagement.
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At this time, it is unclear what the next steps will be or if there will be subsequent meetings – either between the Defence Ministers or similar high-level sit-downs – to push for a deeper disengagement from both sides that will allow soldiers to withdraw to pre-2020 positions.
The two militaries, however, exchanged sweets during Diwali for the first time in years.
A key point here is the scale of military build-up over the past four years; the Chinese put in a lot of work to set up new bases and infrastructure, such as bridges to hasten deployment of troops and equipment. And the sizes of some of these bases had not gone unnoticed.
Last month senior Indian military sources who analysed satellite imagery of a new base on the northern bank of the Pangong Lake said it was “unlike any other” on the Chinese side of the LAC.
NDTV Exclusive | China’s New Base Near Pangong Lake “Unlike Any Other Site”
That camp lay 15km east of a new bridge across the high-altitude Pangong Lake that Beijing built to step up pressure in areas near the LAC that were previously unoccupied.
In July NDTV reported on fortified sites to the north, including a surface-to-air missile battery.
However, following the agreement, China began walking back.
NDTV Exclusive | 1st Images Of Chinese Troops’ Disengagement In Ladakh
Days after the deal, NDTV accessed satellite images showing withdrawal in the Depsang and Demchok regions. And, ten days ago, India said it had completed patrolling to a point in Depsang.
READ | Army Completes Patrolling To Key Point In Ladakh’s Depsang
Last month, after multiple rounds of military- and government-level talks, the two countries announced a patrolling agreement that has seen both withdraw to pre-April 2020 positions.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, speaking exclusively to NDTV, confirmed the agreement and, a day later, Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi said the Indian military is “trying to trust” China again.
But perhaps the biggest signal India-China relations are moving towards some normalcy came after Prime Minister Modi met President Xi at the BRICS Summit in Russia last month.
READ | PM Modi, Xi Jinping Welcome “Complete Disengagement” Along LAC
Disenagement and patrolling in Depsang and Demchok follows similar positive actions on the north and south banks of the Pangong Lake in 2021, and in the contentious Gogra-Hot Springs area in September a year later. In each case the two sides withdrew to pre-April 2020 positions.
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