India and China on Thursday released a joint statement on the 17th round of military talks held at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point. The meeting was held two days ago on Tuesday.
While both India and China mentioned the importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the western sector, there was no mention of what happened in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang region in the eastern sector earlier this month.
Indian and Chinese soldiers fought and injured each other in a savage fight without using firearms in Arunachal’s Tawang region on December 9. This was the most serious breach of peace since the confrontation in Galwan in June 2020 when 20 Indian Army personnel —including a commanding officer— were killed. Like in Galwan, intruding People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers in Tawang too carried sticks and spikes and threw boulders and stones at the Indian soldiers.
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China claims the entire state of Arunachal. This is a maximalist position. The Tawang monastery is revered by Tibetan Buddhists as the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama. China claims Tawang as a part of South Tibet.
At the weekly media briefing, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesman Arindam Bagchi was not prepared to answer questions on why Tawang was not part of the statement. He said that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had already given a detailed report to Parliament and he had nothing more to add.
Those in the know have said that the corps commanders of India and China had no mandate to discuss Tawang. The local commanders were dealing with the specific issue of the Ladakh clashes two summers back. Indian and Chinese forces have already disengaged from five friction points in Eastern Ladakh but there has so far been no progress either in Depsang in Northeast Ladakh or Demchok in the Southeast Ladakh.
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The fact that India and China issued a joint statement is an indication that the talks went well. When there are serious differences, separate statements are issued by each country.
“They had a frank and in-depth discussion, keeping in line with the guidance provided by the state leaders to work for the resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest which would help in the restoration of peace and tranquillity along the LAC in the Western Sector and enable progress in bilateral relations,” said the statement.
India has made it clear since the 2020 military confrontation that it would not be business as usual with China, whereas China has insisted that business and other exchanges should continue while the dispute in Ladakh could be dealt with separately by field commanders and diplomats.
However, the chill in India-China ties has remained since 2020. Until the India-China border issue is settled permanently, intrusions and clashes along the unmarked LAC are expected to continue.
“The two sides agreed to maintain the security and stability on the ground in the Western Sector. The two sides agreed to stay in close contact and maintain dialogue through military and diplomatic channels and work out a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest,” said the India-China joint statement.
