India, China reach agreement on eastern Ladakh military stand-off: Foreign Secretary Misri

India and China have reached an agreement regarding the yearslong military stand-off in eastern Ladakh, said Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia to attend the BRICS Summit, Misri said that India and China have reached an agreement regarding the patrolling arrangements at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

“As a result of discussions that have taken place over the past several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each-other in a variety of forums and, as a result of these discussions, an agreements has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the India-China border area, leading to disengagement and a resolution of issues that had risen in these areas in 2020,” said Misri.

India and China had been engaged in a military stand-off in eastern Ladakh since early 2020 when Chinese soldiers crossed over and attacked Indian personnel. The incursions, and the Galwan clashes in June 2020, plunged the bilateral relationship to its lowest since 1962 when the two nations fought a war.

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#WATCH | Delhi: On agreement on patrolling at LAC, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri says, "...As a result of the discussions that have taken place over the last several weeks an agreement has been arrived at on patroling arrangements along the line of actual control in the… pic.twitter.com/J7L9LEi5zv

— ANI (@ANI) October 21, 2024

As Modi is travelling to Kazan in Russia to attend the BRICS Summit, it has been speculated lately whether he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping there on the sidelines. It had been reported that a meeting would be likely only if substantial progress is made in resolving the Ladakh stand-off.

While Misri announced that India and China have reached an agreement regarding eastern Ladakh, he did not release any specifics.

The announcement of the India-China agreement comes after a series of high-level engagements, which include top Indian officials, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Separately, the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) also met twice.

While Misri said the agreement covers disengagement, he did not say anything about de-escalation.

While disengagement refers to soldiers physically disengaging from a particular point of friction, de-escalation refers to the broader withdrawal of troops and war-waging equipment such as tanks, armoured vehicles, warplanes, and artillery guns, from the broader theatre.

Of the many points of friction that propped following the Chinese aggression in 2020, disengagement has so far taken place at Pangong Tso, PP-15, PP-17, and Galwan Valley, according to The Hindu.

The disengagement at these places had happened by 2022, reported the newspaper, citing a defence official.

While Indian and Chinese troops disengaged in these areas, the deadlock persisted in Depsang and Demchok.

As Misri has not yet given the specifics, it is not yet known whether the said agreement covers disengagement in these areas. The specific locations along the LAC covered by the disengagement agreement are also not known.