During talks, PLA rejected Indian demand to withdraw from areas occupied in May: Report

Last evening, media outlets were abuzz with news stories doing rounds that China had withdrawn its troops by 2 to 2.5 kilometers after top brass military talks on 6 June on India-China standoff in Ladakh. However, the “sources on the ground paint a far bleaker picture of Chinese intransigence along the Line of Actual Control (LAC),” reported The Wire.

Quoting top army sources, the report claimed that during the talks, the interlocutors of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) interlocutors “flatly rejected the Indian demand for Chinese troops to withdraw from areas they occupied in May and restore the status quo that prevailed in April.”

Instead, during the military-to-military dialogue on Saturday, the report claimed, the PLA alleged that the one-kilometer-long track that India had built from the Shyok- Galwan river junction was an encroachment on Chinese territory.

No joint statement was issued after the talks, however, national media claimed that China had retreated back in a major diplomatic victory for India.

According to the report, Chinese also defended the construction of a metallic road up to Finger-4, and prepared defensive positions in that area. It must be noted that prior to incidents in May, Indian army regularly patrolled the areas uptil Finger-8, eight kilometers east of Finger-4. However, since May 5, when thousands of PLA troops had blocked and savagely beat up outnumbered Indian troops in that area, Indian patrols have been unable to go beyond Finger-4, which China now claims is the LAC.

Core commanders of the two armies are scheduled to meet again today to diffuse the tensions along the LAC.