India - China standoff ends

The high-altitude standoff between the armed forces of India and China at Daulat Beg Oldie in Ladakh ended Sunday evening, diffusing an unseemly border dispute days ahead of the new Chinese premier’s first scheduled visit to India.
Chinese troops that had set up temporary tents deep inside what India considers its territory, and Indian soldiers who had set up camp less than half a kilometre from them, creating a tense standoff, have both withdrawn. A highly placed government official said that the two sides have agreed to maintain the status quo prior to the April 16 incursion, even though China has maintained that its troops have not crossed into Indian territory.
The resolution came after weeks of diplomatic engagement with China at multiple levels. New Delhi had indicated in the past few days that external affairs minister Salman Khurshid’s visit to China this week might be cancelled if Chinese troops did not withdraw. Such an event would have cast a shadow on bilateral ties at a time when New Delhi is hoping to build a robust relationship with China’s new leadership.
Khurshid had told reporters on his way to Iran on May three that the progress in dialogue to end the stand off in Ladakh was not satisfactory.
India would have liked a “much better response” from China, he had said and emphasised that it wanted reversal of the “adverse incident” in Ladakh and return to the status quo in Depsang Valley where the Chinese troops have intruded.
The details of the understanding between the two sides and whether China has imposed conditions for its withdrawal from the region are not known. Late on Sunday evening, ministries of defence and external affairs did not provide an official confirmation or comments.
Indian and Chinese commanders at the local level shook hands before withdrawing. During previous flag meetings, China had demanded that India must dismantle semi-permanent structures it had erected at sensitive spots in the region. The troops of the two sides held four flag meetings, the last one being yesterday. However, there was no positive outcome from these meetings, which went hand-in-hand with high level diplomatic efforts to break the impasse.

On April 15, Chinese troops had intruded nearly 27 kms deep into the Indian territory, but an early detection and aggressive patrolling by the security personnel posted in the sector managed to pull them back to the present position near the old patrol base in the DBO sector, which is still 19 kms from the LAC.
The news of the resolution of the border row came even as the Congress core group meeting was ending in New Delhi. Hemmed in by allegations of corruption and abuse of power by its ministers and the opposition’s criticism that its foreign policy was weak and unassertive, the resolution of the impasse will come as a relief for the Manmohan Singh government.