China and India have begun withdrawing troops in the disputed territory near the border. This is stated in the statement of the representative of the Ministry of Defense of the People’s Republic of China Wu Qian on the department’s website.
According to the consensus reached, on February 10, Indian and Chinese troops began a planned synchronized disengagement of troops on the front line on the southern and northern shores of Lake Pangong Tso, “the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
There is an agreement between Beijing and New Delhi that the military of both countries refuse to use firearms to save the lives of soldiers. However, on June 16, 2020, dozens of Indian Army soldiers died in the area in a stick and stone clash. New Delhi believes that this happened as a result of an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo. Indian media reported 43 injured and dead Chinese.
India and China are divided by a conditional line called the “McMahon Line” (after the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of British India, who proposed to create this border in 1914). New Delhi recognized the existing border, but Beijing did not, as stated in an official diplomatic note in 1959.
After that, several attempts were made to solve the problem: two Sino-Indian agreements – from 1993 and 1996 – were unsuccessful. Two sections of the border area remain controversial: in the northeastern part of Kashmir and in the north of the state of Arunachal Pradesh.