Indian and Chinese soldiers leave the site of the deadly clash

SRINAGAR, India Indian and Chinese soldiers have backed off from the site of a deadly clash last month in the Galwan Valley along the unloaded border, Indian security officials said, a sign of countries’ progress in disengaging from a months-long blockade.

Both sides also appeared to have dismantled the latest construction along the high river valley in the Karakoram Mountains, satellite images showed.

Three Indian security officials familiar with the developments said soldiers from both sides had moved back about a kilometer (0.6 miles) from the scene of their clash on June 15, when military personnel fought with rocks, clubs and their fists in hand. . fighting that left 20 Indian soldiers dead.

Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue and in line with government regulations.

The two sides have also relocated to two locations in the Hot Spring area, from at least five countries where Indian officials said the Chinese had crossed the Current Control Line, the border area that remains controversial after a 1962 war that ended in one uncomfortable ceasefire.

They said the soldiers continued to stay at close range in two other locations along the 3,380-kilometer (2,100-mile) checkpoint, in Depsang and Lake Pangong. In the picturesque lake, the Chinese were 8 kilometers (5 miles) inside the disputed border area, officials said.

Satellite images from June 28 showed that the Indians had built a wall on their side of the Galvan Valley and the Chinese had expanded a camp at the end of a long road connected to Chinese military bases farther from the badly defined border, according to experts.

But images released Monday by Maxar, a Colorado-based satellite imaging company, showed those recent additions.

There are no visible structures or vehicles within 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) of the LAC in the valley, said Nathan Ruser, an image analyst at the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy.

However, Ruser said satellite images showed a large structure of about 900 square meters (9,687 square meters) appearing just below one mile (1.6 kilometers) from the Current Control Line. The tender did not appear on June 28 images of the same area.

The purpose of the tent and its potential content, if any, were unclear.

Special envoys on border issues, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, agreed in a phone call on Sunday that maintaining peace and tranquility in the India-China border areas was essential for further development. bilateral relations and to complete the process of continuous detachment along the LAC rapidly, the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The phone call came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid an unannounced visit to a military base on Indian territory in Ladakh, visiting the wounded soldiers and praising their bravery.

The confrontation began in early May, first in three places, including Lake Pangong, and then escalated to two other places in Depsang and Galwan in June.

India and China have blamed each other for provoking the June 15 clash in the Galwan Valley, the most violent meeting of Asian giants in 45 years, and have raised new claims in the area where it occurred.

China’s ambassador to India, Sun Weidong, told the Press Trust of India news agency that there were “casualties between the two sides, but Chinese officials have not detailed any deaths or injuries on their part.

The countries went to war in 1962 over their competitive claims to the dry border region, with the conflict spilling over into Ladakh.

Lieutenant General DS Hooda, a former head of the North Command of the Indian Army controlling Ladakh, said the start of the detachment was a good, positive step.

It is good that some deadlocks have been broken but it will be a long and protracted negotiation for a significant military-level detachment. Full de-escalation will be quite advantageous at the diplomatic level, he said.

Hooda said it remains unclear what China wanted to achieve in the runoff.

I will look at what the Chinese requirements will be as a cost for complete disconnection. We know that neither side will return silently, he said, adding that India hoped to restore the status quo ante, the position that both countries were in April.

Next winter would be an extreme challenge for both sides if the confrontation continues, Hooda said. The wide unloaded border region becomes inhospitable during the winter months, when temperatures can drop to minus 50 Celsius (minus 58 Fahrenheit).

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Schmall reported from New Delhi and McNeil reported from Beijing.