Inside story of how India-China disengagement talks saw a breakthrough

India and China have completed disengagement at the two friction points of Depsang and Demchok in eastern Ladakh and both sides have also begun coordinated patrolling. India Today TV exclusively accessed information from top government sources on how disengagement talks were held, and what prompted Beijing to agree to the same to end the four-year standoff between both countries.
India and China participated in 21 rounds of Corp Commander-level talks on disengagement, but such negotiations used to come to a standstill many times, top government sources said. In such a situation, avenues of dialogue were opened at the diplomatic level and India remained firm on its stand regarding disengagement in Depsang and Demchok and wanted China to return to its 2020 positions, they added.
Government sources said India made it clear to China in military and diplomatic level talks that New Delhi wanted the restoration of the April 2020 status at any cost for the disengagement to happen.
China was rattled by India’s diplomatic clout in the BRICS, SCO and Quad summits and faced pressure after the successful organisation of the G20 Summit by New Delhi, they said.
India Today TV also learnt that India was in no hurry for the de-escalation to take place in the current circumstances. New Delhi wanted to maintain military and diplomatic pressure on Beijing, and the military infrastructure that India built in Ladakh in the past five years could not be removed suddenly, top government sources said.
Following high-level talks between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in St Petersburg, both countries agreed to expedite efforts to resolve the remaining border disputes and improve bilateral relations.
A month before the border breakthrough, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that 75 per cent of the disengagement issues had been sorted out.
On October 21, India announced it reached an agreement with China on patrolling along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, a major breakthrough in ending the over four-year-long military standoff, which began after Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a violent confrontation in Galwan Valley in May 2020.
China also confirmed the patrolling deal, with Beijing saying that a resolution has been reached on “relevant matters” and that it will work with New Delhi to implement these resolutions.
On October 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held bilateral talks after five years on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Russia’s Kazan, where they welcomed the border agreement.