India-China to disengage at LAC: What happened in Galwan, how pact was made and why it is significant

India and China have agreed to disengage along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The two countries had been locked in a border stand-off for the past four years.

Relations between New Delhi and Beijing had nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020.

The incident marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

New Delhi has been insisting that ties with Beijing cannot be normalised until there is peace in the  border areas.

Hindustan Times quoted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said the situation at the LAC has reverted to what it was prior to May 2020.

The development comes just a month after Jaishankar said that roughly 75 per cent of the disengagement problems with China have been sorted out.

But what happened in Galwan? How did India and China agree to disengage? Why is it significant?

Let’s take a closer look:

What happened in Galwan?

On June 15, 2020, Indian and Chinese troops clashed violently in the Galwan Valley.

According to the Financial Express , the weeks leading up to the crash had been intense with both sides deploying their troops at several patrol points (PPs).

According to Indian Express, these locations – which are mostly along the Line of Actual Control – remain unmanned.

They are patrolled by both sides at particular Intervals.

They serve as pointers of the extent of ‘actual control’ India has on the territory.

India in early June claimed that Chinese troops had trespassed on its terrain and put up a camp.

As per The Print , the flashpoint was over Patrol Point 14 (PP14) in Galwan Valley – a place both sides patrol up to and meet to talk.

In fact, Indian troops in May had warned the Chinese to take down the camp and faced off with a group of soldiers.

On June 6, local military commanders agreed to disengage troops from their positions at PP 14.

Both sides agreed to fall back by two kilometres. By then, China had taken down its tent.

However, a few days later, Indian soldiers found that two tents had been erected at PP14.

Worse, one of the tents had been put up on a slope – seemingly at an observation point.

The Indian troops then demanded that the Chinese take down the tents.

In fact, Indian troops pulled down one of the tents and set it ablaze, as per The Print.

Then on June 15, the two sides had another pow-wow at PP14.

India was led by Colonel Santosh Babu, who led talks with his Chinese counterpart.

Both sides agreed to abide by the June 6 agreement, which meant that the Chinese would have to take down their tent on the slope.

Around 7 pm on June 15,  Colonel Santosh and some officers went to see if the Chinese had taken down their tent.

It was then that the trouble began.

The tent was still standing. When Colonel Santosh asked his troops to remove it,  some Chinese soldiers began a verbal altercation, as per The Print.

The verbal altercation then turned into jostling.

At this point, the Indians still had the numbers advance over the Chinese.

Meanwhile, India took down the tent.

However, a bigger group of Chinese soldiers then reached the spot.

They were had iron rods, stones and sticks with nails and barbed wires.

Now, the Chinese outnumbered the Indians. They also had the advantage of weapons favourable geography.

They then attacked and Colonel Santosh was injured in the melee.

“This was treachery by the Chinese. The attack on the Indian team was planned. The CO had gone there with his men in good faith because talks were held in a positive atmosphere during the day,” a source told the outlet.

The two sides fought each other viciously for several hours – resulting in casualties for both sides.

As per NDTV, 20 Indian soldiers were killed, while 40 Chinese soldiers were killed or injured.

“India wants peace. But on provocation, India will give a befitting reply,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned.

As per Indian Express, the Major Generals of both armies then met at PP14.

Ten Indian Army personnel, captured by the Chinese, were returned on June 17.

China in February 2021 admitted to losing five soldiers in the incident, as per Indian Express.

The newspaper quoted a year-end review by the defence ministry as saying that China employed “unorthodox weapons” during the fight.

How did India and China agree to disengage?

It’s been a long, arduous journey to disengagement.

Though India sought a return to the status quo immediately, China did not.

India after the meeting between the two commanders dug into its position.

“Army is preparing for the long haul and the standoff is expected to continue well into the winter,” sources in the army told Indian Express.

China meanwhile lay claim to the Galwan Valley with its Foreign Ministry posting on X, “Galwan Valley is located on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control in the west section of the China-India boundary. For many years, the Chinese border troops have been patrolling and on duty in this region.”

Both sides then had a series of meetings in 2020.

In September 2020, China claimed it was forced to take countermeasures to stabilise the situation on the ground” in Ladakh’s Pangong Tso after Indian forces fired warning shots.

The first advance came in February 2021 after China’s Defence Ministry announced that Chinese and Indian troops at Pangong Tso had started “synchronised and organised disengagement” – which was agreed to during the 9th round of military talks.

Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, said: “The Chinese and Indian frontline troops at the southern and northern bank of the Pangong Tso Lake start synchronized and organized disengagement from February 10.”

The two countries then held nearly two dozen India-China Corps Commander Level talks as well as nearly three dozen talks of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC), as per News18.

Jaishankar-Wang meet

Two important meetings between Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in July also gave an impetus to the disengagement.

The first meeting between Jaishankar and Wang came on the sidelines of the SCO Council of Heads of State Meeting in Kazakhstan.

“The two ministers agreed that the prolongation of the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side. EAM highlighted the need to redouble efforts to achieve complete disengagement from the remaining areas in Eastern Ladakh," a statement after the meeting read.

Jaishankar and Wang later in July met in Vientiane, Lao PDR, on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meet.

“Both the ministers agreed on the need to work with purpose and urgency to achieve complete disengagement at the earliest," India said in a statement after the meet.

The WMCC also met twice – in Delhi in July and in China in August.

“In line with the guidance provided by two Foreign Ministers’ meetings in Astana and Vientiane in July 2024 to accelerate their discussion, and building on the WMCC meeting held last month, the two sides had a frank, constructive and forward-looking exchange of views on the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to narrow down the differences and find early resolution of the outstanding issues. For this, they further agreed for intensified contact through diplomatic and military channels," India said after the August meet.

Jaishankar in September said that roughly 75 per cent of the disengagement problems with China have been sorted out.

Beijing then noted that troops have disengaged at four places in Eastern Ladakh, including Galwan Valley.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry also said that India and China have agreed during their meeting in Russia to work together to create conditions for the improvement of bilateral relations.

Doval-Wang meet

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks on the sidelines of a meeting of the BRICS high-ranking officials responsible for security matters, in St Petersburg.

Doval and Wang are the Special Representatives for the India-China border talks mechanism.

Elaborating further about the Doval-Wang meeting, the Chinese Foreign Ministry release said both parties expressed the belief that the stability of the China-India relations is in the fundamental and long-term interests of the two peoples and conducive to regional peace and development.

China and India agreed to implement the consensus reached by the heads of the two countries, enhance mutual understanding and trust, maintain continuous communication, and create conditions for boosting bilateral ties, it said.

During their meeting, both Wang and Doval discussed progress made in recent consultation on border issues and agreed to deliver on the common understandings reached by leaders of the two countries, enhance mutual understanding and trust, create conditions for improving bilateral ties and maintain communication to this end, she said.

A press release on the talks issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said India and China on agreed to work with urgency and redouble their efforts to achieve complete disengagement in the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh.

In the meeting, Doval conveyed to Wang that peace and tranquillity in border areas and respect for the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are essential for the return of normalcy in bilateral ties, the MEA press release said.

The Doval-Wang meeting came two weeks after India and China held diplomatic talks during which they agreed to intensify contacts through diplomatic and military channels to find a resolution to the outstanding issues.

‘Been in close contact’

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri indicated that the agreement will lead to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in 2020.

It is understood that the agreement pertains to patrolling in Depsang and Demchok areas.

“Over the last several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other in a variety of forums,” the foreign secretary said at a media briefing.

“As a result of these discussions, agreement has been arrived at patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas, leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020," he said.

“We will be taking the next steps on this,” Misri added.

It is not immediately clear whether the agreement facilitates the restoration of patrolling rights that were in place prior to the standoff.

The disengagement is significant as the Opposition has been attacking the Modi government over its stand-off with China.

The Opposition has accused the government of letting China encroach on ‘thousands of kilometres of Indian land.’

With inputs from agencies