India, China likely to hold Major General-level talks on confidence-building steps | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: India and China are now likely to conduct Major General-level talks to strengthen confidence-building measures towards reducing the friction and trust deficit between the two armies till the two main face-offs at Depsang and Demchok in eastern Ladakh can be resolved.

The CBMs to be strengthened range from “preserving the sanctity” of the buffer zones and strictly adhering to border protocols to exchanging prior information on patrols and not increasing force levels along the forbidding frontier in eastern Ladakh, sources said on Thursday.
The aim is to prevent any clashes or inadvertent vertical escalation between the forward deployed rival troops armed with heavy weaponry at the ongoing face-off sites at Depsang and Demchok as well as the buffers zones earlier created after troop disengagements at the Pangong Tso-Kailash range, Galwan Valley and Gogra-Hot Springs.

‘Talks part of continuing process for LAC peace‘
Commenting on the decision to hold Major General-level talks between India and China immediately after core commander-level talks ended without achieving a breakthrough, a source said it was part of an ongoing push towards disengagement at the border.
“It’s a continuing process to maintain peace and tranquillity on the ground till disengagement, followed by de-escalation and de-induction of troops, can take place,” the source said.
This becomes important in the run-up to the BRICS summit in South Africa on August 22-24, which both PM Modi and President Xi Jinping will attend. Subsequently, Xi is also slated to visit New Delhi for the G20 summit on September 9-10.
The fresh military meeting will come after there was no concrete breakthrough yet again for the restoration of Indian patrolling rights at the strategically-located Depsang Plains and the Charding Ninglung Nallah (CNN) track junction near Demchok in the 19th round of corps commander talks, which is a notch higher than the Major General-level talks, on August 13-14.
Sources, however, said the talks held after a gap of almost four months were “better than the previous few rounds” with “some amount of agreement to move ahead” in strengthening CBMs and not increasing the number of troops along the LAC, as was reported by TOI.
Major General and Brigadier-level meetings have been regularly held before for “better border management” as well as “operationalising” decisions taken during the corps commander-level meets.

Watch India-China corps commander-level talks: India to press for troop disengagement in Depsang and Demchok