New Delhi: The military talks between India and China at Chushul in Eastern Ladakh to resolve the border dispute and de-escalation of forces ended in stalemate. The soldiers of both the countries to remain exposed to minus 20 degrees Celsius.
“There was no headway during the talks as China was not ready to withdraw from the disputed position. We had made it clear there is going back an inch,” said a government source.
The eight Corps Commander level talks between both the countries began at 9:30 am and ended at 7 pm on Friday. It was for the first time that Lieutenant General P.G.K. Menon led the Indian military delegates.
Earlier, he had attended two such rounds of talks but the delegation was led by then Lieutenant General Harinder Singh who was transferred last month to the Indian Military Academy (IMA) where he would be in charge of training the future generations of Army officers.
Joint Secretary from the Ministry of External Affairs Navin Srivastava was also part of the delegation.
“We have firmly stated to China that disengagement will happen at all friction points and not at the selected locations as they want. Our stand is clear,” the source said.
While talks were on, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on Friday claimed that situation at Line of Actual Control remains to be tense and war with China cannot be ruled out.
He said : “In the overall security calculus, border confrontations, transgressions, unprovoked tactical military actions spiralling into a larger conflict therefore cannot be discounted.”
