India returns soldier captured on borderline to China
11 de enero de 2021, 13:16New Delhi, Jan 11 (Prensa Latina) India on Monday returned a soldier captured three days ago in the Chushul-Moldo border point, in the northern Ladakh territory, to China.
The soldier was arrested on Friday in the southern shore of the Pangong lake, after crossing the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control, which temporarily separates both countries, according to Press Trust of India news agency.
Indian and Chinese troops have been under a tense border situation east of Ladakh for over eight months. Both countries held several rounds of talks at diplomatic and military levels to resolve the issue, which broke out early in May.
This is the second incident of this sort in which India captured and later returned a Chinese soldier in the past three months.
Nearly 50,000 troops from the Indian Army are deployed in several montainous places of Ladakh, with subzero temperatures.
Representatives of the two most populated nations on the planet and with nuclear power held virtual diplomatic talks with the Consultation and Coordination Work Mechanism, focused on the withdrawal of the respective troops along the Line of Actual Control.
Several rounds of talks are seeking to break the stagnation, as the parties acuse each other of provocations, including the crossing of soldiers towards the neighboring territory, in that area of Kashmir.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, reached a five-point agreement to resolve the dispute, after a meeting in Moscow in September, apart from a ministerial meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
The agreement included the fast withdrawal of troops; avoiding actions that could increase tension; adherence to all agreements and protocols on border management and measures to restore peace in the border area.
The eighth and last round of military talks took place on November 6 to discuss the withdrawal of troops from the friction points.
jg/aph/mgt/abm
