In a meeting with Admiral Dong Jun of China on late Thursday evening, India's defence minister Rajnath Singh laid out a thorough four-point plan to settle the long-running border dispute between China and India. The first high-level military discussion since the disengagement from the final two points of contention—Demchok and Depsang Plains—was held in Qingdao on the fringes of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers' Meeting.
In order to make progress on four important areas—disengagement, de-escalation, border management, and eventual delimitation—both ministers decided to continue consultations, according to an official statement. These actions are thought to be essential to ending the lengthy standoff and bringing peace back along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
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India’s 4-point roadmap to resolve the border row
Rajnath Singh outlined a four-point plan during the bilateral talks, highlighting India’s commitment to restoring stability along the disputed frontier. The key components of the plan include:
- Full Adherence to the 2024 Disengagement Agreement: Singh emphasised that the disengagement agreement signed in October 2024 must be strictly adhered to by both nations. This agreement is especially relevant to Demchok and Depsang, two areas in Eastern Ladakh where military tensions have remained until recently.
- Sustained De-escalation Measures: In order to lower military tensions and prevent any escalation along the LAC, the defence minister urged persistent and earnest efforts. He reaffirmed that in order to keep the peace on the ground, preventing similar incidents in the future must be a shared priority.
- Finalising Border Demarcation and Delimitation: Singh called on the Chinese side to expedite boundary demarcation negotiations and revitalise the current border dispute resolution procedures. Singh particularly "stressed on border management and to have a permanent solution of border demarcation by rejuvenating the established mechanism on the issue," according to the government statement.
- Restoring Mutual Trust Post-2020 Standoff: Rajnath Singh addressed the tense relations brought on by the fatal conflict in the Galwan Valley in 2020 and emphasised the significance of restoring trust. He pointed out that any meaningful improvement in bilateral relations would require addressing the trust deficit.
No joint SCO defence statement due to terrorism disagreement
The SCO Defence Ministers' meeting concluded without a joint communiqué, despite advancements in bilateral discussions. India, which maintains that counterterrorism must continue to be at the forefront of the SCO's agenda, blamed the lack of a unified statement on member states' inability to agree on whether to include references to terrorism.
Rajnath Singh emphasised the significance of maintaining the "positive momentum" in India-China diplomatic engagement in a photo he posted on social media platform X after the bilateral meeting. In addition, he greeted the return of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a revered pilgrimage route that had been halted for almost six years. Restarting it is seen as a symbolic act of thawing relations.
India and China have a history of conflict, including a 1962 war, and share an unmarked and disputed 3,800-kilometer border in the Himalayas. When a border standoff broke out in Eastern Ladakh in May 2020, tensions erupted once more. After a bloody conflict in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that claimed lives on both sides and damaged diplomatic ties, the situation sharply worsened.
Since then, India has continuously insisted that normalising general relations with China requires peace and stability along the LAC. The last two points of contention, Demchok and Depsang, were resolved with the disengagement agreement signed in October 2024, effectively ending the standoff.
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