Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday met his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fengge in Moscow amidst a deadlock with China over the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh over the border dispute. In this meeting, Rajnath Singh reminded China of its aggression mistake and said that the army would have to be removed immediately from the border for peace. Negotiations between Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and China’s Defense Minister Wei Fengge lasted for 2 hours and 20 minutes. During this time, Rajnath Singh made it clear that in order to make peace work, China would have to withdraw its army and work for the status quo.
According to sources, the main focus of the nearly two-and-a-half-hour conversation between Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and the Chinese Defense Minister was to end the long-standing border dispute and restore peace. The focus of the entire conversation rested on finding a middle ground to reduce tension in eastern Ladakh.
On the sidelines of the meeting of the Defense Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries, in this meeting, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh made clear to his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fengge to establish the situation before the deadlock in East Ladakh. He clearly said that China will have to withdraw the army for peace.
Let us tell you that this is the first meeting of the Defense Ministers amidst the ongoing deadlock on the border between the two countries. The Defense Ministers of both countries are in Moscow to attend the meeting of the Defense Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries. This meeting took place on the sidelines of this meeting. The two Defense Ministers met at the Hotel Metropol in Moscow where the Chinese Defense Minister arrived to meet Rajnath Singh. Defense ministers were accompanied by delegations from their countries.
Negotiations began at 9:30 pm (Indian time) in a prominent hotel in Moscow, the capital of Russia, and lasted for about two and a half hours. The Indian delegation also included Defense Secretary Ajay Kumar and India’s Ambassador to Russia DB Venkatesh Verma. Earlier, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar had held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi over the border dispute over phone.
