Talks between Chinese and Indian militaries reached progress on further disengagement: China

Beijing, July 15: China on Wednesday said the fourth commander-level talks between Indian and Chinese militaries to ease tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh have achieved "progress" on promoting "further disengagement" of the border troops to de-escalate tensions.

During the course of the intense and complex negotiations between senior commanders of the two armies that lasted nearly 15 hours, the Indian delegation apprised the Chinese People''s Liberation Army about the "red lines" and conveyed that the onus was largely on China to improve the overall situation in the region, government sources said in New Delhi.

When asked for an update on Tuesday''s military-level talks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here that both sides achieved progress for promoting further disengagement of the border troops at the Western Sector of the China-India boundary.

"Chinese and Indian border troops held the fourth round of commander-level talks on July 14. Building on the common understanding reached at the previous three rounds of commander-level talks and corresponding implementation work, the two sides achieved progress in further disengagement between border troops as well as easing the situation at the western sector of the China-India boundary.

"We hope that India will work with China to implement our consensus with concrete actions and jointly safeguard peace and tranquillity in the border areas," Hua said.

The Indian delegation was led by Lt Gen Harinder Singh, the commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, while the Chinese side was headed by the commander of the South Xinjiang military region Maj Gen Liu Lin.

The Lt General-level talks took place days after implementation of the first phase of the disengagement process from the friction points.

The PLA has already completed pulling back troops from Gogra, Hot Springs and Galwan Valley and significantly thinned down its presence in the ridgeline of Finger Four in the Pangong Tso area in the last one week as demanded by India.

The Indian and Chinese armies were locked in a bitter standoff in multiple locations in eastern Ladakh since May 5. The tension escalated after the violent clashes in Galwan Valley in which 20 Indian Army personnel were killed.