Fresh tension mounted between the two countries when on September 7, PLA troops tried to close in at one of India’s forward positions along the LAC

In the wake of rising tension between India and China on the Line of Actual Control, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are going to meet shortly in Moscow, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

Jaishankar is in Moscow in connection with SCO foreign ministers’ meeting, where he had bilateral meetings with Russian, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan foreign ministers.

Earlier in the day, foreign ministers of Russia, India and China met at lunch in the Russian capital. Even as there would have been some chit-chat among the three foreign ministers during lunch, details on this development are yet to be out. Russia wants India and Russia to diffuse over four –month long tension on the Line of Actual Control through talks.

In this background, meeting between Jaishankar and Wang Yi is considered very important.

Fresh tension mounted between the two countries when on September 7, PLA troops tried to close-in at one of India’s forward positions along the LAC.

According to a statement issued by the Indian Army, when Chinese PLA troops were dissuaded by Indian soldiers from moving forward, “PLA troops fired a few rounds in the air in an attempt to intimidate our troops. However, despite the grave provocation, our troops exercised great restraint and behaved in a mature and responsible manner.”

But China claimed that Indian soldiers had fired warning shots after “crossing the LAC” which India firmly denied, stating “at no stage has the Indian Army transgressed the LAC or resorted to use of any aggressive means, including firing.”

Last week, EAM Jaishakar described the situation in eastern Ladakh as very serious and said it calls for “very, very deep conversation” between the two sides.

India is repeatedly maintaining that it is committed to resolve the current situation on India-China border through peaceful negotiations.