Indian envoy meets Chinese Communist party official; discusses Eastern Ladakh, overall bilateral relations

Indian Ambassador to China Vikram Misri on Wednesday met a senior official of the Chinese Communist Party, Liu Jianchao, and briefed him about India`s stance on the borders in Eastern Ladakh and the overall bilateral relations. 

"Ambassador Vikram Misri met Liu Jianchao, Deputy Director of the Office of CPC Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission and briefed him on India`s stance vis-a-vis the situation on the borders in eastern Ladakh UT and overall bilateral relations," the Indian embassy in Beijing said in a tweet.

Earlier in August, senior commanders of the two armies met in Daulat Beg Oldie in Eastern Ladakh at Line of Actual Control.

The main agenda of the meeting was to address the situation in the Depsang plains that has seen big mobilisation of around 15,000 Chinese troops opposite Depsang.

The Depsang plains is a table-top plateau to the north of Galwan and remains a major hotspot due to its strategic location since it provides access to the logistical hub and airstrip at Daulat Beg Oldie and the critical Karakoram Pass in the north.

The meeting sought to work out a system of pulling back troops and de-escalation from the 900 sq km plains situated at an altitude of 16,000 feet.

So far, there have been five rounds of meetings at the Corp Commander level since the standoff started between India and China in mid-May.

India has demanded complete disengagement of the Chinese troops at the earliest.

India has also deployed more than 15,000 troops there along with heavy deployment of armoured regiments to counter any possible Chinese thrust.

The Chinese have also come there in with several armoured regiments.India and China have held five rounds of Lieutenant General-level talks between them for disengagement from the eastern Ladakh sector but not much success has been achieved in that direction.