Nine rounds of military talks held with Chinese; no visible expression on ground: EAM S. Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday, February 6 said senior military commanders of India and China have held nine rounds of talks on the process of disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh and the parleys will continue in the future also. Addressing reporters in Vijayawada, he said so far there was no “visible expression” of the talks on the ground. “The disengagement talks, because it is a very complicated issue because it depends on troops, you have to know the geography (like) which position and what is happening, this is being done by the military commanders,” he said. He was replying to a query on whether there would be any ministerial-level talks between both the countries on skirmishes between troops of the Asian giants. Amid the ongoing talks, fresh clashes between Indian and Chine soldiers were reported in north Sikkim at Naku La in January when Chinese soldiers were pushed back after they made attempts to intrude into Indian territory. Indian Army said it was a minor face-off, which got resolved by local commanders China and India are locked in a military standoff in eastern Ladakh since May 5 last. The two countries have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks to resolve the face-off, but no significant headway has been made so far. “So, military commanders have held nine rounds of meetings so far. We believe some progress has been made, but it is not, in a kind of situation where there is a visible expression of that on the ground,” he said. Jaishankar said he and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held parleys with their counterparts of China last year in Moscow and agreed that they should disengage in some parts. On the recent union budget, he said there has been a significant additional outlay for the Defence, both in the financial year as well as capital expenditure. The minister said there is an 18 percent increase in capital expenditure which, according to him, is the highest during the past 15 years.During the COVID-19 induced lockdown last year, S Jaishankar noted that as many as four million Indians stranded abroad were brought back by operating 17,000 flights. The workers who came back from gulf countries during the COVID-19 pandemic have now started returning, which is a good sign, he added. Explaining the salient features of the budget, he said it indicates the way between the “COVID-19 recovery and Economic recovery”.