Daily Times

The Chinese military has taken up new positions in the Galwan Valley near the Karakoram Pass, which are strategically important.

Just 12 km from the Karakoram Pass is the Indian Army’s Daulat Beg Military Base and AirStrip. The Karakoram Pass is also a disputed area at the confluence of the China-Pakistan-India borders.

Due to its military supply to Siachen, the area is also very important. At a distance of 300 km from Karakoram Pass, there is Karakoram Highway which leads to CPEC route and important highways of Pakistan.

Claiming that both sides – the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Indian Army – have “retreated a bit” after the Saturday meeting, the army sources revealed that another Sino-Indian meeting would be held on Wednesday at a more junior level.

However, sources on the ground paint a far bleaker picture of Chinese intransigence along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). They say that during the talks, the PLA interlocutors flatly rejected the Indian demand for Chinese troops to withdraw from areas they occupied in May and restore the status quo that prevailed in April.

The call between China’s Wang Yi and India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar came as sources told that Indian paramilitaries were being deployed to the area of the skirmish high in the Himalayas opposite Tibet.

China’s state broadcaster CCTV, meanwhile, showed footage of People’s Liberation Army tanks and soldiers holding live fire drills in Tibet.

China has refused to confirm if it suffered any casualties in the first deadly clashes at the border in decades, although Indian media said at least 40 Chinese troops were killed or seriously hurt.

The Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement that Wang demanded “India conduct a thorough investigation” and punish those responsible.