China, India border dispute: deadlock over pulling back troops from key Himalayan pass

New Delhi rejected Beijing’s demand that it pull back thousands of reserve troops and weaponry it brought to the Depsang Plains and other areas

India does not want to move them too far back as they are acclimatised to the altitude. Sources say this setback raises the prospect for another tense winter

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An Indian Army convoy, carrying reinforcements and supplies, travels toward Leh near the disputed border with China in the Himalayas. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 7:30pm, 18 Oct 2021Updated: 11:22pm, 18 Oct 2021

Chinese and Indian military commanders are deadlocked over the best way to pull back troops from a strategic area in the Himalayas, people familiar with the discussions said, raising the prospect for another tense winter along the border.

China insisted last week that India pull back thousands of reserve troops and weaponry it brought to the border last year, including in the high-altitude Depsang Plains, amid the worst violence between the nations in decades, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.

India rejected the request during the 13th round of talks to resolve the border stand-off, and saw the demand as a setback after the two sides made steady progress in disengagement, the people said.

The Depsang Plains is split by the Line of Actual Control – a disputed but de facto boundary between India and China that runs along the Himalayas – and had previously been patrolled by both Indian and Chinese troops. China last year positioned troops at key locations in the plains, denying India access to 300 square kilometres (116 square miles) of land ever since, the people said.

India wants to move soldiers away from all key disputed areas along its border with China, but not all the way back to their original bases, the people said. That is because it is difficult for India to put them back in place in the event of a conflict, as each solider must go through a three-stage acclimatisation period that lasts about a month. Chinese soldiers, by contrast, can retreat to high-altitude locations on the expansive Tibetan Plateau, the people said.

The Indian Army and Defence Ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the details of the border talks. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian referred to a statement last week from Colonel Long Shaohua, a spokesman for the Western theatre of the People’s Liberation Army.