Rajnath Singh Reviews India-China Border, Convene Meeting with Army Officials

At a time when huge de-escalation of troops were reported from stand-off positions, the Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, reviewed and gauged the situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on Friday.  He also convened meeting with the Chief of Defense Staff, Gen. Bipin Rawat, and the three service chiefs to discuss the relevant issues.

This is the second such review meeting that the Defense Minister held within a span of week. The first one was on June 8, two days after a Lt General-level meeting between the Indian Army and Chinese People's Liberation Army. The second one took place on Friday, two days after a Major General-level meeting between India and Chinese military.

Sources from the Defense Ministry revealed, "Latest assessments on Line of Actual Control ground situation done after military talks”. General Rawat briefed the Minister about the troop deployments at the stand-off sites in eastern Ladakh. Singh also took a review of ground situation across the entire LAC, including Arunachal Pradesh. He also discussed about ongoing infrastructure work at the LAC. On Thursday, India's Ministry of External Affairs said that India and China have agreed for early resolution of ongoing face-off at the LAC. The MEA spokesperson, Anurag Srivastava, said that it was agreed that an early resolution of the situation would be in keeping with the guidance of the leaders. "The two sides are, therefore, maintaining their military and diplomatic engagements to peacefully resolve the situation at the earliest as also to ensure peace and tranquillity in the border areas. This is essential for the further development of Indian-China bilateral relations”.

Both sides have had discussions at military and diplomatic levels on the face-off. At the level of militaries, the Corps Commanders of India and China met at Chushul-Moldo region on June 6 and again on June 10, talks happened at the Major General level. “Major General-level talks took place at Chushul-Moldo on Wednesday about ongoing de-escalation and Pangong stand-off situation was discussed”, said a senior government officer, adding that during the meeting, discussion took place for further de-escalation in Ladakh. The official said, “More talks at different levels in days to come for complete de-induction and withdrawal of additional troop deployment close to Line of Actual Control”. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said that both sides are taking steps to ease the situation along the borders.

“Recently the diplomatic and military channels of China and India held effective communication on the situation along the border and reached positive consensus. The two sides are following this consensus to take actions to ease the situation along the borders”, the spokesperson said.