NEW DELHI: After a fortnight of incursions, Chinese troops on Friday started withdrawing from India's Chumar area in Ladakh following talks between the two armies.
The pullback by around 750 PLA troops began after the issue was resolved at the third flag meeting between the two sides, Army sources said here. After a meeting with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in New York, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj announced that the two countries have resolved the stand-off at the Ladakh border and withdrawal of troops will on Friday and be completed by September 30.
Swaraj said that the two sides have also decided on a timeline for the withdrawal of troops.
As per the understanding between the two sides at a brigadier-level flag meeting,
it is learnt that the Indian side agreed to dismantle its observation posts in the area while the Chinese agreed to stop the construction of a road there.
This exercise appeared to be
a rerun of last year's Depsang Plains stand-off where the Chinese had demanded the dismantling of Indian positions in Chumar in return for withdrawing its troops from the Indian territory and succeeded in getting their demands accepted before leaving.
Ladakh stand-off: Chinese troops start withdrawing from Chumar - The Times of India
When Modi met Xi Jinping, Modi boasted about India's shupa-powa. Modi boasted the elephant will show the dragon its muscle. Modi boasted about how battle hardened Indian army is from insurgency in Kashmir and how they have better supply lines in Chumar. Xi Jinping almost laughed out loud but finally just politely smiled and nodded.
As soon as Xi Jinping returned, PLA pounced on Indian army with mechanized divisions. We beat them back at Demchok. We were ready to rain down rocket artillery fire and mop up with armored vehicles and helicopters.
Indians were lucky Xi Jinping said, "Let them live once they dismantle the Chumar observation post. We humiliated them enough. Now they know they are a lower nation compared to China. If they forget then we spank them again."