The second meeting between the two ministers following the G20 summit demonstrates that both parties desire to keep up the conversation to address the Ladakh border problem.
To urge the settlement of outstanding border disputes in East Ladakh, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will visit his Chinese colleague Qi Gang tomorrow on the fringes of the SCO Foreign Ministers Meeting in Goa. Normalisation of bilateral ties between the two Asian superpowers is being held back by the ongoing Depsang Bulge and Demchok in East Ladakh conflicts.
However, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar and Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is anticipated to attend the SCO FM meeting as well, do not have a bilateral meeting planned. While EAM Jaishankar has consistently brought up the problem of cross-border terrorism coming from Pakistan, Zardari has gone far beyond his mandate and spewed venom in the context of Kashmir against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular and against India in general. Foreign Minister Zardari visits India at a time when Hina Rabbani Khar, his deputy, is making headlines for urging Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to sever relations with the US in favour of a strategic alliance with China in a leaked communiqué to western media.
The meeting between External Affairs Minister Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Qi Gang is a sign that both sides are eager to resolve open border issues and have the patience to deal with the issue without further escalating border tensions, even though the SCO FM meeting is anticipated to finalise the agreements to be signed in the July SCO summit. The Chinese military commander made it clear that the PLA wanted the problem fixed but intended to request guidance from Beijing on both the Depsang Bulge and Demchok area even at the April 23, 2023, top military commanders conference at Chushul.
The commander of the Indian Army emphasised that unless both grounds of contention are settled, followed by a de-escalation and a de-induction of PLA soldiers positioned all along the East Ladakh LAC in the occupied Aksai Chin region, the border problem cannot be addressed. It is clear that the PLA commanders are awaiting guidance from the highest levels of authority on how to handle the two outstanding issues.
The good news about these ongoing negotiations is that both parties are prepared to discuss the border problem indefinitely and are aware of one another's perspectives. In actuality, the 1986 Sumdorong Chu dispute between China and India was resolved after eight years with both sides agreeing to make accommodations.
Since the PLA, not the Indian Army, was the aggressor in both cases—the Depsang Bulge and Demchok—the Narendra Modi administration has no intention of retreating as it has in the past. The PLA has actually strengthened its ground positions in both regions following the May 2020 infractions.
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