India-China 13th round of military-level talks fail to gey any headway. (Representational image)
After hours-long India and China 13th round of military-level talks failed to make any headway in resolving the 17-month standoff in the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh on Sunday, Beijing through its propagandistic state media outlet Global Times is now blaming New Delhi for the talks not being successful and has even started saying that if a war breaks out between the two countries due to the border dispute, then India will be defeated.
Beijing in the article has also said if a war breaks out then India may never get the kind of border it wants.
But before being so confident, China seems to have probably forgotten how Indian soldiers killed their PLA troops without weapons in the Galwan Valley clash last year in Ladakh.
In the article, Beijing has further accused India that it wants to take advantage of the deteriorating relations between America and China.
However, China has also written in its article that the people of China see India as a superpower and believe that there is a lot of potentials in both the countries to sustain a long-time border standoff with each other.
China's fury is clearly visible from the article written in the Global Times and is not missing out on calling India an opportunist. The article written in a rage said that India is seeing the deteriorating relationship between China and America as an opportunity. It is clear from this article that India is firmly presenting its side regarding the border dispute and is forcing China to agree to its terms.
On Sunday, the 13th round of military talks between India and China did not reach any conclusion in resolving the pending issues in eastern Ladakh.
The Indian Army said on Monday that the Chinese Army did not agree with the "positive suggestions" given by it. The statement issued by the Indian Army indicated its tough stand on the matter.
The army said that in the meeting held on Sunday, issues in the rest of the areas were not resolved and the Indian side stressed that it expects the Chinese side to work in this direction.
The army said in a statement, "During the talks, the Indian side made positive suggestions to resolve the issues in other areas, but the Chinese side did not seem to agree with them and could not even make any proposal on the way forward." Therefore, no solution could be found in the meeting regarding the rest of the areas.
The talks took place on the Chinese side in the Chushul-Moldo border area on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh on Sunday.
In a strong statement after the 13th round of talks, the Army also said the situation along the LAC had been caused by "unilateral attempts" of the Chinese side to alter the status quo and it is necessary that China takes appropriate steps to restore peace in the region.
"During the meeting, the Indian side, therefore, made constructive suggestions for resolving the remaining areas but the Chinese side was not agreeable and also could not provide any forward-looking proposals.
"The meeting thus did not result in resolution of the remaining areas," the Army said in a statement on the talks that lasted eight-and-a-half hours.
As the two sides accused each other for the deadlock, it is learnt that the Indian side mentioned about the stalled disengagement at Patrolling Point 15 (PP-15) as well as issues in Depsang Plains and Demchok.
In its statement released in Beijing, the Chinese PLA's Western Theatre Command claimed that India insisted on "unreasonable and unrealistic" demands, adding difficulties to the negotiations.
It also said that China has made "tremendous efforts to ease and cool down the border situation and fully demonstrated its sincerity."
People familiar with the talks said the Chinese delegation came to the meeting with a pre-determined approach and was not ready to move forward from its position.
The talks took place in the backdrop of a brief face-off between the two sides near Yangtse in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh nearly two weeks ago and there were indications of some "physical engagement" among the troops.
Close to 100 Chinese soldiers had also transgressed the LAC in the Barahoti sector of Uttarakhand on August 30.
In its statement, the Indian Army said the Indian side pointed out that the situation along the LAC had been caused by "unilateral attempts" by the Chinese side to alter the status quo and in violation of the bilateral agreements.
"The Indian side pointed out that the situation along the LAC had been caused by unilateral attempts of Chinese side to alter the status quo and in violation of the bilateral agreements," the Army said.
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"It was therefore necessary that the Chinese side take appropriate steps in the remaining areas so as to restore peace and tranquillity along the LAC in the Western sector," it added.
The Indian side also referred to the talks between the Chinese and Indian foreign ministers last month in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe on the sidelines of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO).
"This would also be in accord with the guidance provided by the two foreign ministers in their recent meeting in Dushanbe where they had agreed that the two sides should resolve the remaining issues at the earliest," the Indian Army statement said.
"The Indian side emphasised such resolution of the remaining areas would facilitate progress in the bilateral relations," it added.
The Indian Army statement also said the two sides have agreed to maintain communications and also to maintain stability on the ground, the statement said.
"It is our expectation that the Chinese side will take into account the overall perspective of bilateral relations and will work towards early resolution of the remaining issues while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols," it added.
The two sides held the 12th round of talks on July 31. Days later, the two armies completed the disengagement process in Gogra, which was seen as a significant forward movement towards the restoration of peace and tranquillity in the region.
Each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the LAC in the mountainous sector.
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