India on Wednesday "recognised" that the latest disengagement from the Patrolling Point (PP) 15 in the Gogra-Hot Springs area of eastern Ladakh amounted to "one problem less" along the India-China frontier. The comment from External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar came a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to travel to Samarkand in Uzbekistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit meeting which is expected to witness participation of all the heads of governments of the member countries of the SCO, including President Xi Jinping of China.
Speaking to the media at a joint press meeting along with visiting French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said, "You have heard me speak many times about the border. I don't think I would say anything new there today, except I would recognise that we had disengagement at PP-15 and that disengagement as I understand was completed and that is one problem less on the border."
The Hindu had reported earlier that the withdrawal of troops from PP-15 had been verified after India and China announced that their armies had begun to disengage from PP-15 in Gogra-Hot Springs which is being considered as a positive step to end the tension that erupted in May 2020 in Ladakh. The Ministry of External Affairs, however, had pointed at remaining issues after the withdrawal from PP-15 is complete. By referring to the problems on the India-China border, the External Affairs Minister has indirectly drawn attention to the friction points at Demchok and Depsang that remain. That apart, the overall situation at the border remains far from a complete resolution as Beijing continues to maintain that it would not accept India's demand for status quo ante at the Line of Actual Control.
