Talks between the Indian and Chinese defense ministers are expected’ to take place in Moscow on Friday, with government officials saying they have the highest level of political contact since tensions erupted on their disputed mountainous border in May.
The two sides had deployed additional
troops along the western Himalayan border after a clash in June, during which
20 Indian soldiers were killed’ in hand-to-hand fighting.
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has
been granted’ permission to meet his Chinese counterpart Wei Feng in Moscow,
where the two are attending the SCO summit. The official added that the meeting
had been requested by the Chinese.
"A green signal was then given for
this meeting," the official said, adding that he could not be identified’
due to Indian service rules.
No word was received’ from China, but Hu
Xijin, editor-in-chief of China's state-sponsored Global Times, said on Twitter
that a meeting between the defense ministers was expected.
Despite the brutality of the clash in
June, both sides appeared to observe a protocol to avoid the use of firearms in
the highlands. And while no further clashes have been reported’ since then, the
situation on the border is still tense.
Military commanders and diplomats are in
talks to end the standoff on the Line of Actual Control, or de facto border,
but little progress has been, made.
Last weekend, Indian officials said border
forces had stepped in to deter Chinese troops, whose move was aimed’ at
capturing a hilltop that India had set up inside its territory. Considered.
"The situation is a bit tense with
the LAC," Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane told Reuters
during a border visit to the Ladakh region.
A US government source told Reuters in
Washington that the US assessment was that neither China nor India was
interested in taking the conflict to the point where they would go to war.
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