SRINAGAR, India (AP) – China and India are withdrawing front troops from disputed parts of their mountain border where they have been in stalemate for months, both countries said.
The troops began the withdrawal on the southern and northern shores of Lake Pangong in the Ladakh region on Wednesday, they said.
India and China will remove forward commitment in a “staged, coordinated and verified manner,” Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament on Thursday.
China’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that both sides had begun a “synchronized and organized” pullout.
The tense standoff high in the Karakoram mountains began in early May, when Indian and Chinese soldiers ignored each other’s repeated verbal warnings, triggering a screaming competition, stone throwing and fist fighting on the north shore of Lake Pangong, where disputed ridges push into the glacial lake from eight directions and are referred to as “fingers”.
In June, it escalated and spread north into Depsang and Galwan Valley, where India has built an all-weather military road along the disputed border. Tensions exploded in hand-to-hand battles involving clubs, stones and fists, killing 20 Indian soldiers. China is also said to have made victims, but has not given details.
Since then, both countries have stationed tens of thousands of soldiers, supported by artillery, tanks and fighter jets along the de facto border called the Line of Actual Control, or LAC, with troops settling in for the harsh winter.
Each side accused the other of inciting violence. They started military and diplomatic talks about ending the crisis, which has drastically changed the relationship between India and China.
China did not provide details of the withdrawal in its brief statement. Singh said the “Chinese side will maintain its troop presence in the north bank area east of Finger 8.”
India claims all eight fingers at Pangong Lake, but its military presence extends as far as Finger 3. The area between fingers 4 and 8 was traditionally patrolled by both sides before the situation escalated in May, although China claimed the area.
According to India, Chinese soldiers occupied the area between Fingers 4 and 8 last year. India responded in August by occupying at least three uninhabited mountain peaks on the southern shore of the lake, with the two sides firing warning shots for the first time in 45 years, putting it away. specter of a large-scale military conflict was aroused. and which made Beijing furiously demand that Indian troops withdraw.
Conversely, Indian troops will be stationed at their permanent base near Finger 3, Singh said. “A similar action would be taken by both sides on the South Bank.”
Singh said the two sides also agreed on a “temporary moratorium on military activities” on the northern shore of the lake. “Patrolling will not resume until both sides reach an agreement in diplomatic and military talks to be held later,” he said.
Lieutenant General DS Hooda, who was head of the Northern Command of the Indian Army covering the Ladakh region from 2014 to 2016, said the agreement “is an important step towards a comprehensive withdrawal and finding a solution for the existing problems between the two countries. . ”
He said it would take a while for the two countries to restore confidence and negotiate new agreements. “The ongoing crisis has led to a lot of mistrust and a complete breakdown of agreements and protocols that have kept peace along the control line,” he said.
But some Indian experts said the development meant the Indian government had accepted Beijing’s position on the disputed area.
“Talking about mutual withdrawal from Pangong positions is just a smokescreen!” Tweeted Ajai Shukla, a former Indian military officer and defense commentator.
From the beginning, China’s real military goal in East Ladakh was Depsang. Not a word can be heard about that, ”he said.
One of the most strategically important areas in the region, Depsang is where India has the highest airstrip in the world and where, according to Shukla, the Chinese army has entered 15 to 18 kilometers (9 to 11 miles) into areas held by India.
The LAC separates China-occupied areas from Ladakh in the west to India’s eastern Arunachal Pradesh state, which claims China in its entirety. LAC has broken up in parts where the Himalayan countries of Nepal and Bhutan border China. It divides areas of physical control rather than territorial claims.
India claims the China-controlled Aksai Chin Plateau as part of the Ladakh region. According to India, the control line is 3,488 kilometers (2,167 miles) long, while China says it is considerably shorter.
Relations between the two countries are often tense, in part because of their controversial border. They fought a border war in 1962 that culminated in Ladakh and ended in an uneasy truce. Since then, troops have guarded the undefined border and occasionally fought. They had agreed not to attack each other with firearms.
The current impasse concerns disputed sections of a pristine mountain landscape with a glacier feeding one of the largest irrigation systems in the world and a vital link in China’s massive “Belt and Road” infrastructure project.
India unilaterally declared Ladakh a federal territory and seceded it from disputed Kashmir in August 2019, ending the semi-autonomous status of Indian-administered Kashmir. It also promised to take back the Aksai Chin plateau.
According to some Indian and Chinese strategic experts, India’s action has exacerbated existing tensions with China, which led to the border clash in June.
China was one of the first countries to strongly condemn this move in international forums, including the UN Security Council.
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Associated Press writer Huizhong Wu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.