India, China to hold 14th round talks on January 12 at Chushul-Moldo point: Sources

The 14th round of India-China Senior Highest Military Commander Level (SHMCL) will take place on January 12, sources informed Republic Media Network on Monday. The talks will take place at the Chushul-Moldo meeting point, on the Chinese side at 09:30 AM (IST) and will be led by Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta. Recently, Lt Gen Sengupta took over as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Leh-based 14 Corps. In the talks, the focus will be on resolving the Hot Springs issue, which remains the only major point of contention between the two countries. 

What happened in the 13th round?

Held on October 10, 2021, the 13th round of the India-China Corps Commander Level Meeting had ended in a stalemate. During the talks as per reports, the Chinese side had blamed the Indian side for making ‘’unrealistic and unreasonable demand.” And the Indian side had maintained that in an effort to resolve the pending issues had made “constructive suggestions.”

"It is our expectation that the Chinese side will take into account the overall perspective of bilateral relations and will work towards early resolution of the remaining issues while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols," India had said in a statement after the meeting. The two sides had agreed to maintain communications and also to maintain stability on the ground.

The 1988 Consensus, and clash of 2020 at Galwan

In December 1988, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi made a historic visit to China, the first such visit by an Indian Prime Minister in 34 years. One of the key decisions that the leaders of the two countries reached back then was that provided the territorial disputes could not be resolved in the near term, Beijing and New Delhi should nonetheless set aside their differences in order to explore growing ties in other areas, of which trade became one of the top prerogatives. It led to a series of agreements, starting with the Border Peace and Tranquility Agreement of 1993, setting in place confidence-building measures (CBMs) and standard operating procedures (SOPs) on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and a commitment not to change the status quo before the border was settled.

While the two countries continued collaboration in other domains, China began to develop infrastructure along the border, which is also known as the Line of Actual Control, and when India followed the same line and constructed a new road to a high-altitude airbase, it did not go down well with China. Tensions were evident, and ultimately led to the clash on the Sino-Indian border in Ladakh in June last year, the first in the last 45 years. The clash had led to serious injuries on both sides. Almost a year to the clash, while disengagement has taken place at Galwan Valley and the southern and northern banks of Pangong Tso, stand-offs and tensions continue in at least four other locations in Eastern Ladakh — Depsang Plains, Hot Springs and Demchok.