Indian, Chinese Soldiers' Heated Scuffle In Ladakh Resolved After High-Level Talks

In a major development that may have some serious implications on sensitive ties between New Delhi and Beijing, soldiers of India and China got into heated scuffle in eastern Ladakh near the Pangong Tso Lake on Wednesday. However, unlike the Doklam stand-off that stretched for 73 days, the Ladakh tension was resolved quickly after high-level meeting between the forces of two Asian neighbours. According to Press Trust of India, army sources have given a brief account of what exactly happened in Ladakh. Sources said that standoff occurred due to deferring perceptions about the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China.

According to Times of India, a scuffle broke out between the two groups of soldiers. Tension increased to a point where the troops called in for reinforcement. The face-off, however, ended quickly after brigadier-rank officers held a meeting in the evening. The area had witnessed similar tense faceoff between two sides in 2017 also.

The Doklam standoff was triggered by China saying it was constructing a road within its territory. This was disputed by India, which said that the site of the Chinese road construction was Bhutanese territory. “We have resolved the Doklam issue with diplomatic maturity without losing any ground. There is no change in the status quo (on the ground). There is not an iota of change. The face-off has been resolved on 28 August 2017," Sushma Swaraj had said during question hour in Parliament. The standoff, which led severe disruption of relations between the two countries, was finally resolved after the PLA stopped the road construction, following which India withdrew its troops.

The standoff led to both the countries revamping their ties with the first ever informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan in 2018 which paved the way for the normalisation of the ties. India-China border dispute covered 3,488 km and the two countries had more than 21 rounds of talks to resolve the issue.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Standoff was reported in eastern Ladakh near Pangong Tso Lake.
• The area had witnessed similar tense faceoff in 2017 also.
• Standoff occurred due to deferring perceptions about the LAC.