China says disengagement at most
localities along LAC is ‘complete’
Admits issues still remain at Pangong Lake; no change in situation: MoD sources
China on Tuesday said border troops had “disengaged
in most localities” along the
Line of Actual Control (LAC),
but defence sources said disengagement had only been“partial” at one of the locations that Beijing appeared
to be referring to.
China also acknowledged
for the first time that issues
were yet to be resolved at
Pangong Lake, which is likely to be taken up at the fifth round of Corps Commanderlevel talks set for later this
week.
Incomplete exercise
Disengagement has been
completed from standoff
sites at Patrolling Point (PP)
14 at Galwan Valley and PP 15
in the GograHot Springs area. It is, however, only partially completed at PP17A,
another patrolling point in
the GograHot Springs area,
and also incomplete at Pangong Lake, defence sources
said, adding that there was no change in the ground situation with the first phase of
disengagement remaining
incomplete.
These issues, in addition
to further disengagement,
would be taken up during
the talks.
“The talks will most likely
be in the second half of this
week,” a defence source
said. “Firm dates are yet to
be confirmed.”
On Tuesday, the Chinese
Foreign Ministry was asked
by Chinese media to confirm
whether “Chinese and Indian troops have completeddisengagement at three localities, namely, Galwan Valley, Hot Springs and Kongka
Pass” and if “the only area
where disengagement is left
to be implemented is along
the Pangong Lake.” Kongka
Pass is east of GograHot
Springs.
This was the first time that
the Chinese media had specifically referred to issues in
the GograHot Springs and
Pangong Lake areas along
the LAC. Previously, they
had only spoken of differences in the Galwan Valley,
where a clash on June 15 that
claimed the lives of 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese
soldiers, marked the worst
violence on the border since
1967.
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