SRINAGAR, India (AP) – China and India are withdrawing front-line troops from disputed parts of their mountain border, where they have been in a confrontation for several months, the two countries said.
Troops began disengaging on Wednesday on the southern and northern shores of Lake Pangong in the Ladakh region, they said.
India and China will eliminate further developments in a “staged, coordinated and verified manner,” Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday.
China’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that both sides had begun a “synchronized and organized” disengagement.
High tense tension in the Karakoram mountains began in early May, when Indian and Chinese soldiers ignored each other’s repeated verbal warnings, triggering a shouting match, throwing stones and punching on the northern shore of Pangong Lake, where the disputed ridges push into the eight-way glacial lake. and are referred to as “fingers”.
By June it had climbed and extended north into Depsang and the Galwan Valley, where India had built a military road all along the disputed border. Tensions erupted in a melee with sticks, stones and fists that left 20 Indian soldiers dead.. It is believed that China also had casualties, but did not give any details.
Since then, both countries have stationed tens of thousands of soldiers backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets along the de facto border called the Current Line of Control or LAC, with troops settling in for the harsh winter.
Each side accused the other of inciting violence. Military and diplomatic talks have begun over the end of the crisis, which has dramatically changed the India-China relationship.
China, in its brief statement, did not provide details about the disengagement. Singh said that “the Chinese side will keep its troops in the north bank area east of Finger 8.”
India claims all eight fingers on Pangong Lake, but its military presence extends to finger 3. The area between Fingers 4 and 8 has traditionally been patrolled by both sides before the situation intensified in May, although China claimed the area. .
According to India, Chinese soldiers occupied the area between Fingers 4 and 8 last year. India responded in August by occupying at least three uninhabited mountain peaks on the southern shore of the lake, during which the two sides fired warning shots for the first time in 45 years, raising the specter of a large-scale military conflict and causing Beijing to angrily demand the withdrawal of Indian troops.
“Reciprocally, Indian troops will rely on their permanent base” near Finger 3, Singh said. “A similar action would have been taken in the southern shore area on both sides.”
Singh said the two sides also agreed on a “temporary moratorium on military activities” on the northern shore of the lake. “Patrol will only be resumed when both sides reach an agreement in subsequent diplomatic and military talks,” he said.
Lieutenant General DS Hooda, who was head of the Indian Army Northern Command from 2014 to 2016 under the Ladakh region, said the agreement “is a significant step towards comprehensive disengagement and finding a solution to the problems between the two countries. ”
He said it would take some time for the two nations to rebuild trust and establish new agreements. “The ongoing crisis has led to great distrust and a complete breakdown of the agreements and protocols that have kept the peace along the line of control,” he said.
But some Indian experts said that this development means that the Indian government has accepted Beijing’s position on the disputed territory.
“The discussion about mutual withdrawal from Pangong positions is just a smokescreen!” Ajai Shukla, a former Indian military officer and defense commentator, wrote on Twitter.
“From the very beginning, China’s real military target in East Ladakh has been Depsang. There is no word on that, “he said.
Depsang, one of the most important strategic areas in the region, is where India has the highest landing strip in the world and where, according to Shukla, the Chinese military has penetrated between 15 and 18 kilometers inside areas owned by Indians.
The LAC separates Chinese and Indian-held territories from Ladakh in the west to eastern Indian Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims in its entirety. The LAC is broken into parts where the Himalayan nations of Nepal and Bhutan border on China. It divides physical control areas rather than territorial claims.
India claims the Chinese-controlled Aksai Chin Plateau as part of the Ladakh region. According to India, the control line is 3,488 kilometers (2,167 miles) long, while China says it is considerably shorter.
Relations between the two countries have often been strained, in part because of their disputed border. They waged a border war in 1962 that erupted in Ladakh and ended in a restless truce. Since then, the troops have guarded the undefined border and occasionally quarreled. They had agreed not to attack each other with firearms.
The current distance refers to disputed parts of a clean mountain landscape, which boasts a glacier that supplies one of the largest irrigation systems in the world and is a critical link in China’s massive “Belt and Road” infrastructure project.
India unilaterally declared Ladakh as a federal territory and separated it from Kashmir in August 2019, ending India’s semi-autonomous status of Kashmir. He also vowed to take back the Aksai Chin Plateau.
According to Indian and Chinese strategic experts, India’s move exacerbates tensions with China, leading to the June border collision.
China was among the first countries to strongly condemn the action at international forums, including the UN Security Council.
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Associated Press writer Huizhong Wu of Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to the report.