india and china have agreed to withdraw
their military forces
from a disputed part of their shared
border in the karakoram mountain range
troops from both countries have been
engaged
in a nine month long standoff
at the pangong lake in india's ladakh
region
it is just one part of a shared but
undefined border between both countries
that runs for thousands of kilometers
trouble began last may after india
accused chinese troops of unilaterally
entering indian territory
soon both armies were facing off against
each other
at various points along the border
tensions came to a head when 20 indian
soldiers died in a clash
with chinese troops at one of these
points
since then both armies have steadily
reinforced their positions
and moved men and material to the border
areas
[Applause]
joining me now for more is defense
analyst ajay shukla ajay you've been
following these tensions
at the border since they began last year
what have the two sides
agreed to now
oh well there were synchronized
announcements
from beijing on wednesday and from delhi
on thursday
saying basically the same thing which is
that
there would be a disengagement of troops
from either side
in the vicinity of the pangong lake
which is a high altitude lake in ladakh
this is just one of the four places
where the chinese troops intruded
into indian claim territory that
happened last april
end and since then there have been
varied levels of confrontation going on
the announcement takes place
uh only in respect of the pangong lake
it is not quite clear yet whether there
are implicit and
understood announcements that there will
uh or agreements that there will be
announcements in the future
for disengagement in the other places
but for now
uh the pangong lake which is one of the
key areas
where the troops were in contact both
sides are now disengaging and pulling
back to agreed positions
now these tensions have been running for
about nine months now and as you
correctly point out
there's other points of tension as well
should we assume
then this is the beginning of the end of
these tensions between both sides
well it would be tempting to to
assume that because you know
this has been going on for a very long
time with high levels of tension
between two nuclear armed superpowers
but the truth is that there is no
announcement yet about pullbacks in
other positions
uh if it if it is something that the two
sides have agreed would be done in a
phased
manner and there is an agreement about
it that's welcome
uh but right now there is no
announcement for it uh the key
area where uh confrontation is taking
place
still is the debsan plain which is the
northernmost part of
ladakh near what is the karakoram pass
where chinese troops have intruded about
15 to 18 kilometers inside indian
territory
that's a tense area because the chinese
believe that
the indians there are well poised to go
and capture a strategic highway
inside china that links their troubled
provinces of xinjiang and tibet
and that makes the chinese very
sensitive to that area
so we are waiting to see whether there's
an announcement or a pullback in debsan
that is uh if that happens then you
would certainly be seeing the beginning
of the end of this confrontation but
right now as i said
there isn't a clear announcement it's
taken nine months to achieve
this breakthrough and there are
significant
interests from on both sides
particularly the chinese side to occupy
a particular position as you just
mentioned
does it look like india has many cards
it can use to push through a
disengagement
well at the purely tactical level
indians the indian army held superior
positions
which in the mountains means higher
positions
in only one sector and that is the
southern bank of the pangong lake
now between yesterday and today they
will be vacating those positions
so to that extent the indian side is
showing an element of trust in this
disengagement process
by vacating its superior positions right
off the bat
uh however i mean if one looks at it in
a larger strategic context
the chinese have agreed to disengagement
whether in one two or three positions
that's a matter of detail
but they've agreed to disengagement and
that seems to
indicate to indian strategic thinkers
that perhaps the chinese have believed
that they
they strategically miscalculated what
would happen when they came into the
indian side of the line of action
control perhaps they did not believe
that the indians would react so strongly
that they would hold their deployments
right through winter where the
temperatures go down to minus 30
degrees centigrade and the indian the
strength of the indian reaction
might have caused the chinese to rethink
their whole enterprise
uh that's what the the the hope
certainly is
uh because the indians have taken action
against the chinese at the economic
level
at the diplomatic level at the
international military level
the strengthening of the quad and so on
uh and that perhaps has caused the
chinese to rethink so there's
there's hope that uh the chinese are
really evaluating their position
right thanks very much for that ajay
showcase thank you so much for joining
us
thank you
you