India, China: Some progress in military talks on border spat

23/9/2020 12:40

        Senior military commanders from India and China have agreed to not add more troops along their fast-militarizing disputed border in the mountainous Ladakh region where the two Asian giants are locked in a bitter months-long standoff, the sides said late Tuesday.
        
        The joint statement released after talks said the two sides also agreed to "strengthen communication on the ground" and "avoid misunderstandings and misjudgments" along the lengthy contested border known as the Line of Actual Control. However, it did not mention any breakthrough during the talks about their forces disengaging from the standoff as they had earlier committed.
        
        The standoff in the cold desert of Ladakh began in May and escalated in June to the deadliest violence between the two sides in decades — a clash on a high ridge in which soldiers used clubs, stones and their fists. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed and dozens of others were injured. China is believed to have also suffered casualties but did not provide any details.
        
        The rival countries have amassed tens of thousands of soldiers, backed by artilleries, tanks and fighter jets in the Ladakh area following the deadly standoff.