India, China remain engaged through diplomatic, military channels: Army

Indian and Chinese officials continue to remain engaged through the established military and diplomatic channels to address the current situation in the India-China border areas, the Indian Army said on Saturday.

The statement came in the midst of a scheduled high-level military dialogue between the two sides to resolve the current border standoff in eastern Ladakh. The Indian delegation at the talks was led by Lt General Harinder Singh, the general officer commanding of Leh-based 14 Corps, while the Chinese side was headed by the Commander of the Tibet Military District. 

On Friday, the two countries held diplomatic talks during which they agreed to handle their "differences" through peaceful discussions while respecting each other's sensitivities and concerns.

In the talks, the two sides also agreed to settle differences in accordance with guidance provided by the leadership of two countries, in a reference to decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at an informal summit in Wuhan in 2018.

"Indian and Chinese officials continue to remain engaged through the established military and diplomatic channels to address the current situation in the India-China border areas," the Indian Army said in a statement.

"At this stage therefore any speculative and unsubstantiated reporting about these engagements would not be helpful and the media is advised to refrain from such reporting," it said without providing any details about the high-level dialogue scheduled for this morning.

The two armies have already held 12 rounds of talks between their local commanders and three rounds of discussions at the level of major general-rank officials. But the talks did not produce any tangible outcome, sources said.

Troops of India and China are locked in a bitter military standoff in at least four areas on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh for a month. After the standoff began in early last month, Indian military leadership decided that Indian troops will adopt a firm approach in dealing with the aggressive posturing by the Chinese troops in all disputed areas of Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Demchok, and Daulat Beg Oldie.

The Chinese army is learnt to have deployed around 2,500 troops in Pangong Tso and Galwan Valley besides gradually enhancing temporary infrastructure and weaponry.

The sources said satellite images have captured significant ramping up of defence infrastructure by China on its side of the de-facto border including construction activities at a military airbase around 180 km from the Pangong Tso area.