Hours after Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla described the situation along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh as “unprecedented” since the 1962 war with China, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe held a meeting Friday night in Moscow to try and resolve the border crisis.
Singh and Wei met for 2 hours and 20 minutes on the sidelines of a gathering of Defence Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Wei had sought a meeting with Singh on Thursday, days after Indian troops occupied strategic heights on the south bank of Pangong Tso and Rechin La.
India hopes this changed situation on the ground in Ladakh will make the Chinese return to the disengagement talks table. The Chinese have been reluctant to step back from the Pangong Tso north bank and Gogra Post after crossing points which India says mark the LAC.
Ahead of the meeting at Hotel Metropol in Moscow, Shringla, speaking at a seminar in New Delhi organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs, said India “will not yield” on “territorial integrity and sovereignty” but is “open to resolving outstanding issues through dialogue”.
Responding to questions, Shringla said: “I think you are right in saying that we have had an unprecedented situation on our India-China border. We have never had the sort of situation since 1962… we have lost, for the first time, lives of soldiers, which has not happened in the last 40 years. It is an unprecedented situation.”
