India, China to hold third round of Lt Gen-talks in Ladakh's Chushul on June 30

PTI photo (An IAF chopper flies in the skies above Leh in Ladakh)

New Delhi: The third round of military-level talks between India and China will take place in the Chushul sector on the Indian side of Line of Actual Control on Tuesday (June 30). The talks are being held in an attempt to de-escalate tension in eastern Ladakh and finalise modalities for disengagement of troops from the sensitive region even as China has significantly ramped up its military presence in the area and several other fiction points in eastern Ladakh.

The talks are expected to begin at 10:30 am on Tuesday.

The first two Lt General-talks between the two nuclear-armed nations had taken place at Moldo on the Chinese side of the LAC.

PTI quoted government sources saying that in the second round of talks on June 22, the two sides arrived at a mutual consensus to disengage from all the friction points in eastern Ladakh. On Tuesday, the two sides are expected to deliberate on the implementation of an agreement arrived at the first round of the Lt General talks on June 6, the sources said.

The Indian delegation at the talks will be headed by 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen Harinder Singh while the Chinese side is likely to be led by the Commander of the Tibet Military District.

The tension between the two sides at LAC escalated after the violent face-off between Indian and Chinese troops at Galwan Valley on the intervening night of June 15-16 that left 20 Indian soldiers dead.

The Chinese soldiers used stones, nail-studded sticks, iron rods and clubs in carrying out brutal attacks on Indian soldiers after they protested the erection of a surveillance post by China on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control in Galwan.

After the clashes, the two sides held at least three rounds of Major-General level talks to explore ways to bring down the tension between the two sides.