India and China held another round of Brigadier-level talks at Chushul on Friday as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) Bipin Rawat and the three service chiefs to discuss the situation along the disputed boundary in Ladakh.
“The talks began at 10 a.m. and went on till 3 p.m. The interaction is a continuation of a series of interactions at the lower level to keep the channels of communication open as also to keep the tensions under control,” a defence source said. At the meeting chaired by Mr. Singh, the five-point agreement reached between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi was also discussed.
LAC standoff | Divergences remain between India and China despite 5-point plan
The two sides have already agreed to hold another round of Corps Commander-level talks, but the dates are yet to be finalised, the source said. Five rounds of Corps Commander-level talks have so far been held. The situation along the north and south banks of Pangong Tso remains tense after the recent build-up of troops by both sides.
As for the situation on the north bank of Pangong Tso, the source said there was no change, and Chinese troops continued to sit on the ridge-lines of Finger 4. Recently, the Indian Army had gone and occupied some heights in the north and west of Finger 4 a few hundred metres away, the source said, adding, “The Chinese are on 3-4 heights there, and we have occupied the same number or more, which are at the same height, and some more dominant to the north and west of them.”
