(TibetanReview.net, Nov02’24) –In a culmination of the ongoing disengagement process in eastern Ladakh, India’s federal government minister Mr Kiren Rijiju has on Nov 1 interacted with soldiers of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh along the India-Tibet border.
The interaction occurred when Rijiju, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs as well as of Minority Affairs, and who belongs to the state, visited an Indian Army post on the occasion of Diwali. He celebrated India’s Hindu New Year festival of lights with Army jawans posted in Bumla on Oct 31.
The minister posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, where he could be seen talking to three PLA soldiers with the help of an interpreter.
He praised the kind of infrastructure built and other development works being carried out by the Indian government along the international border.
“After talking to Chinese soldiers and seeing the infrastructures, everyone will feel proud of India’s border development now,” the PTI news agency quoted him as saying Nov 1.
Rijiju’s interaction with the PLA soldiers came about 10 days after India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that an agreement was finalised between India and China for a resolution of the issues that arose in 2020 in eastern Ladakh.
The agreement established a protocol on patrolling after disengagement of troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, a breakthrough to end the more than four-year standoff there.
Following the completion of the disengagement process at the two friction points in eastern Ladakh, the Indian Army began patrolling at Demchok on Nov 1. Patrolling at Depsang, the other friction point where the disengagement process in almost complete, will commence soon, reported the indianexpress.com Nov 2 and the hindustantimes.com Nov 1.
The agreement, reached on Oct 21, marked a significant development in the pursuit of reduced tension along the LAC in eastern Ladakh since the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in Jun 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades. The ties between the two Asian giants had nosedived following the clash.