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| Chinese PLA in ladakh |
The Chinese Army has moved back around 10,000 troops from the depth areas near the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh, reports said. These troops were positioned in the traditional training areas from April-May last year.
Quoting government sources, news agency ANI reported that the reason for China moving troops back from the depth areas might be the extreme cold weather in the region. It's not clear whether these troops will be brought back to the area once the temperature rises in the next few months.
However, according to the report, there has been no change in deployment in the frontline areas and the troops from both Indian and Chinese sides remain in an eyeball-to-eyeball situation in several locations.
Sources told ANI that the heavy weaponry brought in by the Chinese side close to the Indian border has also remained in the area.
China has deployed close to 50,000 soldiers near the boundary in the Eastern Ladakh sector since April-May last year. India has also deployed an equal number of troops in a high state of combat readiness in various mountainous locations in eastern Ladakh in sub-zero conditions as multiple rounds of talks between the two sides have not yielded any concrete outcome to resolve the standoff.
The eighth and last round of military talks had taken place on November 6 during which both sides broadly discussed disengagement of troops from specific friction points.
On December 18, at a virtual meeting of the WMCC, both sides agreed to continue work towards ensuring complete disengagement of troops in all friction points along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh at the earliest.
The two sides have agreed to hold the next round of senior commanders' meetings, and are in constant communication through diplomatic and military channels in this regard, MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava had said last week.