India-China border stand-off: The talks concluded at 7 PM on Sunday

The thirteenth round of Corps Commander-level talks between India and China in Moldo lasted for around eight-and-a-half hours, and focused at discussions on resolving the military standoff between armies of the two countries in the Eastern Ladakh sector, news agency ANI quoted army sources as saying.

The talks concluded at 7 PM on Sunday. Government sources had earlier told News18 that the high-level military talks will focus on making some forward movement in the disengagement process in the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh.

The talks were held at the Moldo border point on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. Army chief General MM Naravane had earlier said the Chinese have been building infrastructure on their side of the region which suggests that “they are there to stay”.

The 13th round of talks took place in the backdrop of two recent incidents of attempted transgressions by the Chinese troops — one in the Barahoti sector of Uttarakhand and another in the Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh.

Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a brief face-off near Yangtse in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh last week and it was resolved within few hours following talks between commanders of the two sides as per established protocols, people familiar with the development said on Friday.

Last month, close to 100 soldiers of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) transgressed the LAC in the Barahoti sector. The transgression took place on August 30, and the Chinese troops returned from the area after spending few hours.