India, China military top guns meet after a year, both nations agree to LAC peace

India and China military commanders last week held their first meeting in a year in eastern Ladakh, aiming to restore normalcy along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to the pre-April 2020 status, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Wednesday.

“The 23rd round of India-China Corps Commander-level talks was held at Chushul-Moldo border meeting point along the LAC on October 25,” the MEA said. The talks were held in a “friendly and cordial atmosphere”, it said.

This was the first meeting of the military-level interaction in Ladakh since the 24th round of Special Representatives (SR) talks was held in New Delhi on August 19, 2025, between National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi—the two designated SRs. Following the meeting, the SRs announced a multi-point programme that crucially laid down “delimitation”—or the formal defining of the boundary—as a key objective.

The previous Corps Commander-level talks were held in October 2024, around the same time both two sides announced a patrolling arrangement at Demchok and Depsang in eastern Ladakh. “The commanders shared the view that peace and tranquility has been maintained in the border areas… Both sides agreed to continue using the existing mechanisms to resolve any ground issues along the border to maintain stability,” the MEA said.

The two armies had been locked in a military standoff since April 2020 and witnessed a deadly clash at Galwan in June 2020.

The patrolling arrangement announced in October 2024 led to “disengagement” of troops and India has since been stressing on taking the next two steps of the “three-Ds” approach. The first ‘D’ meant disengagement, which was completed in October last year. It entailed pulling back armed troops from an eyeball-to-eyeball deployment. The following two ‘Ds’—de-escalation and de-induction—are being negotiated.

In October last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had met in Kazan (Russia) and had tasked the SRs with overseeing steps to ensure peace and tranquility in border areas. They were asked to work out a “fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable” solution to the pending boundary issue.

The SRs have been tasked to resolve the boundary question—the two countries don’t have an earmarked border, leading to claims and counter-claims and hence, the disputes.

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