The Indian Army and the Chinese Army held their 18th round of military talks on Sunday to ease conflicts along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), where both parties have been involved in a border dispute for nearly three years, according to officials familiar with the matter. The previous round of Corps Commander-level meetings took place in December 2022 to address persistent border issues.A heavily militarised borderIn spite of four times disengagement from Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra, and Hot Springs, both armies have more than 60,000 soldiers and cutting-edge weaponry deployed in the region of Ladakh as the India-China border dispute enters its fourth year in early May.There have been eighteen rounds of discussions between the Chinese and Indian forces, according to officials with knowledge of the situation. Depsang in the Daulet Beg Oldi sector and Charding Nullah Junction (CNJ) in the Demchok sector, however, continue to be challenging. The meetings took place before the Chinese defence ministers trip to India for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting, which was scheduled to take place in New Delhi on April 27–28. No formal statement has been made regarding the LAC talks so far.The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation SummitOn April 27, bilateral discussions between the defence ministers of Chinas Li Shangfu and Russias Sergei Shoigu and Rajnath Singh will take place. The next day will be when the main SCO defence ministers meeting will be held. The SCO Summit will take place in July, and the SCO Foreign Ministers Meeting will be held in India in May. India will be hosting the event for the first time after joining the group in 2017. Apart from India, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are the other seven member nations of the SCO.Li Shangfu (Minister of National Defense of China)Both parties committed to maintaining “security and stability on the ground in the Western Sector” of the LAC during their most recent meeting in December 2022. In a statement, it was noted that “the parties have decided to remain in constant communication while continuing discussion through the army and diplomatic means in order to figure out an agreeable solution of all remaining problems at the latest.” The gathering was held only 11 days after a clash along the LAC at Yangtse, which is close to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, which resulted in several Indian and Chinese soldiers being hurt.Li will be in New Delhi for the SCO defence ministers conference at a time when the two countries are involved in a border conflict. Lis visit is the first by a Chinese defence minister to India since the conflict in Galwan in June 2020, which destroyed relations between the two nations. Twenty Indian soldiers lost their lives during the seven-hour combat in the Galwan Valley near Patrolling Point 14. Beijing officially reported that only four Chinese soldiers died, but India estimated that the PLA suffered twice as many fatalities as the Indian Army. Singh voiced confidence in the Indian Armys capability to manage any concerns near Chinas border with India on April 19. He also stated that negotiations to end the continuing crisis in the Ladakh area would continue and that disengagement and de-escalation were the best courses of action.
