Days before External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi met in Moscow to diffuse tensions at the LAC in Ladakh, escalating conflict had led to Indian and Chinese troops firing 100-200 rounds of warning shots. The incident took place on the north bank of Pangong Tso in early September, reported The Indian Express.
The shots were reportedly fired by both sides on the ridgeline where Finger 3 and Finger 4 merge. Quoting a top government officer, The Indian Express reported that, there was a lot of movement on both the north and south banks of Pangong Tso in the first week of September.
There were two incidents of firing at the LAC in early September. Warning shots were reportedly fired at Chushul sub-sector on 7 September. A day later, the second incident took place at the north bank. This was just days after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe in Moscow.
On 10 September, a meeting was held between EAM S Jaishankar and Wang Li, following which both India and China released a joint statement on a five-point plan to ease tensions and work towards new confidence-building measures.
The government officer told The Indian Express that the situation has calmed down since the talks. “Now things have cooled down because of the talks between our Defence Minister and their Defence Minister and the Foreign Ministers. The focus has shifted towards dialogue.”
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)