India-China sit for fourth round of talks to ease border tensions

KATHMANDU: Amid prevailing border tensions between India and China, the fourth round of Lieutenant-General level talks commenced on Tuesday.

According to Press Trust of India (PTI), the meeting that was scheduled to begin at 11:30 am is being held at Chushul, which falls on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

Military representatives from both the countries, who made efforts to reduce tensions through talks on June 6, June 22 and June 30, are discussing troop disengagement, among other issues, in an attempt to ease tensions along the LAC.

The Indian delegation is led by 14 Corps commander Lt General Harinder Singh while South Xinjiang Military District chief Major General Liu Lin is leading the Chinese delegation.

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has already completed the process of pulling back troops from Gogra, Hot Springs and Galwan Valley and significantly thinned down its presence in the ridgeline of Finger Four in the Pangong Tso area in the last one week as demanded by India.

Earlier this month, as many as 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a violent face-off with a Chinese troops in Galwan Valley.