BIG WIN FOR DIPLOMACY AS INDIA, CHINA REACH LAC PACT

Agreement will facilitate patrolling in Depsang and Demchok areas

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In a major breakthrough in ending the over four-year-long military standoff, India on Monday announced it has reached an agreement with China on patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

The pact paves the way for a likely meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia this week.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri at a media briefing on Modi's visit to Russia for the BRICS summit, said the agreement was firmed up following negotiations by the two sides over the last several weeks and that it will lead to a resolution of the issues that had arisen in 2020.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said Indian and Chinese soldiers will be able to resume patrolling in the way they had been doing before the border face-off began and the disengagement process with China has been completed.

It is understood that the agreement will facilitate patrolling in Depsang and Demchok areas as there were major unresolved issues in these two areas. The ties between the two Asian giants nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.