External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar announced on Monday that India and China have successfully completed the disengagement process along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Speaking at the NDTV World Summit, he confirmed that troops from both nations will resume patrolling as they did before the June 2020 Galwan incident. Jaishankar’s statement follows Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s earlier announcement of a patrolling agreement between the two countries, marking a significant step toward resolving the long-standing border standoff.
The breakthrough, which came just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia for the BRICS summit, allows both countries to return to their pre-2020 patrolling arrangements. Jaishankar emphasized that the agreement was the result of patient diplomacy, adding that the specifics of the deal will be revealed in due time. He acknowledged that both sides had blocked each other’s movements in certain areas after the 2020 standoff, but the new understanding now permits patrolling to resume as it had before the conflict.
India and China had been in a standoff since April-May 2020, culminating in a violent clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, which led to the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and an estimated similar number of Chinese troops. Jaishankar highlighted the perseverance in diplomatic efforts since September 2020, which ultimately led to this positive development.
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