Defene minister Rajnath Singh will meet his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghi on the sidelines of a key Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meet in Moscow on Friday, amid heightened military tensions between the two countries in eastern Ladakh.
The meeting is scheduled for 9.30pm, said sources.
This is the first major political contact between India and China since the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) unilaterally changed the status quo on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in May 2020 in east Ladakh.
The Chinese side had conveyed to the Indian mission its keenness to have a meeting between the two defence ministers, hoping for a resolution to the border standoff, and the Indian side has accepted the proposal. Singh and Wei are currently in Moscow to attend a meeting of SCO defence ministers on Friday.
News18 had earlier reported that the South Block has given the go-ahead for Singh’s meeting with his Chinese counterpart. The meeting was arranged at the behest of both sides mutually to find a way out of the current standoff in Ladakh with both the Indian Army and PLA deployed in full strength to counter each other.
This comes even as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday underlined that he was “totally convinced” that the solution to the situation on the LAC has to be found in the domain of diplomacy. “And I say that with responsibility.”
Indian and Chinese troops are engaged in a tense border row in eastern Ladakh for nearly four months now.
Tensions flared again in eastern Ladakh after China unsuccessfully attempted to occupy Indian territory in the Southern Bank of Pangong lake four days back when the two sides were engaged in diplomatic and military talks to resolve the festering border row.
India occupied a number of strategic heights on the southern bank of Pangong lake and strengthened its presence in Finger 2 and Finger 3 areas in the region to thwart any Chinese actions. China has strongly objected to India’s move. India has also rushed in additional troops and weapons to the sensitive region following the Chinese attempts.
India on Thursday said the border tension in Ladakh over the past four months is a “direct result” of Chinese actions aimed at effecting unilateral change in the status quo of the region, and asserted that the only way forward to resolve it was through negotiations.
The comments by the Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) that squarely put the blame on China for the prolonged border standoff came even as Chief of Defence Staff(CDS) Gen. Bipin Rawat asserted that India’s armed forces are capable of handling aggressive Chinese actions in “best suitable ways”.
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