In a bid to break the deadlock in Ladakh, a meeting has been scheduled between defence minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart, General Wei Fenghe, on Friday evening on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) ministerial in Moscow. This would be the first major political contact between India and China since the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) unilaterally changed the status quo on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in May 2020 in east Ladakh.

As per the people familiar with the developments in Moscow and Delhi, the meeting was arranged with the both side’s consent to find a way out of the prevailing stalemate in Ladakh with both the Indian Army and PLA deployed in full strength to counter each other.

In the meeting, Ladakh stalemate will be discussed, which is apparent from the appearance of the ministry of external affairs joint secretary (East Asia) Naveen Srivastava in Moscow on Friday. Srivastava has held a series of conversations with his Chinese counterpart under the working mechanism for consultation and coordination on India-China border affairs towards disengagement and de-escalation of the PLA in the contested sectors.

The essential meeting between two defence ministers is needed as Rajnath Singh is number two in the Narendra Modi government and a former BJP president, Gen Wei, a former missile force commander, is a state councillor and member of the all-powerful Central Military Commission. The CMC, headed by chairman President Xi Jinping, controls the PLA. with the President as commander-in-chief.

After this meeting, on September 10, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is anticipated to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the same platform in Moscow.

India and China’s ministerial-level meeting has come at a time when PLA and the Indian Army are locked in a tense posture in Ladakh and occupied Aksai Chin with the former trying to impose 1960 claim map (demarcated by a green line) on the ground and the latter clear that its claim line (demarcated by a black line) is the true LAC.

In May and June, while PLA in the first instance had made gains on the ground north of Pangong Tso, the Indian Army has revoked the dominance by repositioning on the heights overlooking Finger four on the lake and make tactical gains on south banks of the contested lake by pre-empting the Chinese troops.

“It is a game of pressure and time. The first one who blinks loses the match. The only way out is that both sides restore status quo ante and walk out of the military cul de sac respectfully,” said a military commander.