Fourth flag meeting fails; China refuses to budge

Refusing to budge from the territory occupied by them, Chinese troops have asked the Indian forces to pull back first in the Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) sector of Ladakh where yet another flag meeting between the two sides has ended in failure.
Senior military personnel of the two countries led by Brigadier-level officers held a fouth flag meeting at Chushul yesterday but their discussions lasting 45-minute ended without any positive outcome with the Chinese refusing to restore status-quo ante as it obtained on April 15 before they intruded 19 kms deep on the Indian side of Line of Actual Control (LAC) pitching five tents and bringing in some 50 soldiers besides military vehicles and dogs.

Official sources said that the Chinese side asked the Indian troops, which have also established tented posts about 300 metres from the Chinese, to pull back first before they could think of going back. The Indians said that any pull back had to be simultaneous and that the Chinese should vacate their intrusion.
The sources said that in view of this impasse there was no breakthrough in the meeting but the two sides decided to continue the dialogue.
The Chinese side also reiterated their earlier stand that India should dismantle bunkers constructed along the LAC in Phuktsay and Chumar areas to which the Indian side contended that similar activities were being carried out on the Chinese side.

Chinese officials maintained that the activities on their side was more of a developmental work and that India should stop pushing its grazers in Chumar division, south east of Ladakh.
On April 15, Chinese troops had intruded nearly 27 kms deep into the Indian territory but an early detection and aggressive patrolling by the security personnel posted in the sector managed to pull them back to the present position near the old patrol base in the DBO sector, which is still 19 kms from the LAC.