Chinese military confirms disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh

The Chinese military on Friday confirmed that the troops of China and India have begun the process of disengagement from the Patrolling Point 15 in the GograHotsprings area of eastern Ladakh in a coordinated and planned wayMarking a significant forward movement to end the standoff in eastern Ladakh that has lasted for over two years the Indian and Chinese armies on Thursday announced that they have begun to disengage from the Patrolling Point 15 in the GograHotsprings areaIndia has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control LAC were important for the overall development of bilateral ties The two militaries held 16 rounds of Corps Commanderlevel talks to resolve the standoffOn 8th September 2022 according to the consensus reached in the 16th Round of ChinaIndia Corps Commander Level Meeting the Chinese and Indian troops in the area of Jianan Daban have begun to disengage in a coordinated and planned way which is conducive to the peace and tranquility in the border areas a Chinese defence ministry press release issued here on Friday saidAlso Read Eastern Ladakh row Jaishankar presses for early resolution of outstanding issues in talks with Wang YiIndian officials here confirmed that Jianan Daban area referred to by the Chinas military press release is the same as Patrolling Point 15 in the GograHotsprings area referred to by the Indian press release issued on ThursdayThough it is a Joint Statement the two sides referred to the area with different namesThe joint statement released by the Press Information Bureau PIB in Delhi on Thursday night said On 8th September 2022 according to the consensus reached in the 16th round of India China Corps Commander Level Meeting the Indian and Chinese troops in the area of GograHotsprings PP15 have begun to disengage in a coordinated and planned way which is conducive to the peace and tranquility in the border areasThe announcement came around a week ahead of the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation SCO in Uzbekistan which is expected to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping among other leaders of the groupingThere is speculation about a possible meeting between Modi and Xi on the sidelines of the summit though there is no official word on it from either sideThe beginning of the disengagement process in the GograHotsprings area is an outcome of the 16th round of highlevel military talks in July the two armies said in a statementOfficial sources told PTI in Delhi that the withdrawal of troops from Patrolling Point 15 PP15 began on Thursday morning and the local commanders from both sides are working out the modalities for the subsequent measuresFollowing the 16th round of Corps Commanderlevel talks ground commanders of both sides held a series of negotiations on the nittygritty of the disengagement processThe sources said India will keep pressing for the resolution of pending issues in the remaining friction points of Depsang and DemchokAs a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks the two sides completed the disengagement process last year on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra areaThe disengagement in the Pangong Lake area had taken place in February last year while the withdrawal of troops and equipment in Patrolling Point 17 A in Gogra took place in August last yearThe 16th round of military talks was held 10 days after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Bali IndonesiaThe eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5 2020 following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areasBoth sides gradually enhanced their deployment by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponryEach side currently has around 50000 to 60000 troops along the LAC in the sensitive sectorThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever