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Committed to properly resolve standoff with India in Ladakh: Chinese Foreign Ministry

Both the sides are expected to deliberate on specific proposals to end the month-long bitter standoff in eastern Ladakh during the first extensive talks between the Indian and Chinese military on Saturday.

Committed to properly resolve standoff with India in Ladakh: Chinese Foreign Ministry

The Pangong Lake in Leh district of Union territory of Ladakh bordering India and China. (File Photo by Prakash SINGH / AFP)

With the continuing tensions at Indo-China border in Ladakh, Beijing issued a statement on Friday saying that it is committed to properly resolve the “relevant issue” with India ahead of the key talks between senior Indian and Chinese military officials on Saturday to end the standoff at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Both the sides are expected to deliberate on specific proposals to end the month-long bitter standoff in eastern Ladakh during the first extensive talks between the Indian and Chinese military on Saturday, led by lieutenant generals from both the armies.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing in Beijing that “at the moment the situation in the boundary region between China and India is overall stable and controllable”.

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“We have full-fledged border-related mechanisms and we maintain close communications though military and diplomatic channels,” he said when asked about reports that Indian and Chinese military officials are due to hold talks on Saturday.

“We are committed to properly resolve the relevant issue,” Geng said.

The general officer commanding of Leh-based 14 Corps, Lt Gen Harinder Singh, is expected to represent India at the talks which are scheduled to be held at one of the meeting points on the boundary, the official sources in New Delhi told news agency PTI.

The Indian side is expected to present specific proposals at the talks to de-escalate tension in Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley and Demchok – the three areas in eastern Ladakh where the two sides have been on a bitter standoff for the last one month, the sources told news agency PTI.

It is not immediately known what will be the proposals that the Indian military will take to the table but it is understood that it will insist on return to status quo in all the areas, reported Press Trust of India.

The two sides have already held at least 10 rounds of negotiations between local commanders as well as major general-rank officials of the two armies but the talks did not yield any positive result, they said.

It is learnt that two sides are also engaged in diplomatic talks to find a solution to the face-off which is turning out to be the most serious military standoff between the two armies after the Doklam episode of 2017.

After the standoff began early last month, the Indian military leadership decided that Indian troops will adopt a firm approach dealing with the aggressive posturing by the Chinese troops in areas of Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie.

The India-China boundary covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control.

Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the boundary areas.

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