Right after the Indian Army confirmed the commencement of the disengagement process in the Depsang Plains and Demchok on Tuesday, China also acknowledged the same saying that  “Chinese and Indian frontier troops are engaged in relevant work, which is going smoothly at the moment”, The Indian Express reported.

The Army confirmed the news on Friday, four days after India announced that both sides had reached an agreement on patrolling.

“In accordance with the resolutions that China and India reached recently on issues concerning the border area, the Chinese and Indian frontier troops are engaged in relevant work, which is going smoothly at the moment,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.

As per IE, citing sources, the disengagement process is likely to get over by October 28-29. However, they flagged that given the terrain and the weather conditions in the area, there could be no strict timeline. 

Also Read

‘Very disturbed situation’

Speaking at the Flame University in Pune,  External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that since 2020 the situation at the border has been “very disturbed”, impacting the “overall relationship”. He further said that India had been negotiating with the Chinese on how to find a solution. He also praised the Indian military stationed at the India-China border, serving under “very very unimaginable conditions”.

“If today we have reached where we have…One is because of the very determined effort on our part to stand our ground and make our point. The military was there (at LAC) in very, very unimaginable conditions to defend the country, and the military did its part and diplomacy did its part,” he said.

Jaishankar noted that it is still somewhat early for a full normalisation of relations, as rebuilding trust and a willingness to collaborate will naturally take time.

He mentioned that Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Xi Jinping in Kazan, Russia, during the BRICS summit. It was then agreed upon that the foreign ministers and National Security Advisors of both countries would meet to explore ways to move forward.