NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Talks between Indian and Chinese diplomats have opened options for the Asian rivals to resolve the conflict on their Himalayan frontier, India’s army chief said on Tuesday.
Ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours have been strained since clashes between their troops on the largely undemarcated frontier left 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead in 2020.
Diplomatic and military talks to end the standoff have made slow progress and hurt business relations between the world’s two most populous nations with New Delhi tightening scrutiny of investments from Chinese firms and halting major projects.
“The positive signalling is coming from the diplomatic side,” General Upendra Dwivedi said at a defence think tank event.
“But when it comes to the execution on ground … it’s dependent on the military commanders on both the sides to take those decisions.”
New Delhi wants the status on the frontier in the western Himalayas to be restored to its pre-April 2020 position when the stand-off began and the situation will remain sensitive until then, Dwivedi said.
The militaries have pulled back from four of six positions where they had been involved in a face-off but have not been able to secure a breakthrough on the remaining points of friction.
The sides have resolved the “low-hanging fruits” and now need to address difficult situations, Dwivedi added.
The Indian army chief’s comments followed recent meetings India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar have held with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Jaishankar said last month that about 75% of the disengagement problems at the border with China had been sorted out.
The countries also agreed to redouble efforts to ensure complete disengagement, India said after Doval met Wang in Russia last month.
(Reporting by YP Rajesh and Krishn Kaushik, editing by Ed Osmond)
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