The thirteenth round of Corps Commander discussions concluded on Sunday, 10 October, in Moldo in eastern Ladakh, but no agreement was reached on troop withdrawal at Patrolling Point 15 in the Hot Springs area.While the two sides have agreed to additional rounds of talks,
The failure of the two commanders to reach an amicable solution based on the previously agreed "disengagement and de-escalation" process suggests that a short to medium term armed stalemate could prevail on the border, with sporadic border skirmishes or even an intensive limited war possibility,
Why would there be a chance of another tense winter standoff?
The Chinese continue to block Indian security forces from entering locations where they had deployed patrols on a regular basis. There have been further intrusions in the southern Demchok region, where Indian forces are allegedly unable to patrol over the Charding Nallah. Chinese forces have penetrated the central sector's Barahoti Plains and the eastern sector's Tawang Tracts, but have returned after being intercepted by Indian troops.
Chinese troops have been deployed in considerable numbers all along the Line of Actual Control , backed up by a quick and extensive build-up of permanent or semi-permanent infrastructure.
On the other hand , Unlike the last time, the Indian Army is now much well-prepared for the winter, there is better infrastructure and better provisioning
The current situation along the LAC in the western sector of the India-China border areas has been caused by unilateral attempts of the Chinese side to alter the status quo in violation of the bilateral agreements.Hot Springs and Demchok continue to pose challenges.The Chinese have now made it a sovereignty issue, which is irksome. Earlier they were saying this is just a territorial issue
