New Delhi: India and China have agreed on a five-point roadmap including quick disengagement of troops and avoiding any action that could escalate tensions for resolving the four-month-long face-off in eastern Ladakh. The two countries reached the agreement during the talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Thursday evening in Moscow on the sidelines of the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
According to government sources, the Indian side strongly raised the deployment of a large number of troops and military equipment by China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and conveyed its concern. The Chinese side could not provide a credible explanation for the troop’s buildup.
Government sources have informed the five-point agreement that will guide the approach of the two countries to the current border situation.
Besides striving for quick disengagement of troops, the two countries agreed that their soldiers should maintain a proper distance from each other and abide by all existing agreements and protocols on management of the de-facto border.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a joint press statement early on Friday featuring five points which were agreed by both sides at the “frank and constructive” discussions by the two ministers.
The Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have been locked in a tense standoff in multiple areas along the LAC in eastern Ladakh since early May. Shots were fired across the LAC on Monday for the first time in 45 years with the two sides accusing each other of firing in the air.