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India and China held Corps Commander-level talks at Wacha along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday amid recent tensions in the eastern sector.
The talks, held days after National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met in Beijing for boundary negotiations, also come ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to India for the BRICS Summit next week.
The meeting at Wacha assumes significance as it is the first time that the Corps Commander-level channel has been used at a border meeting point in Arunachal Pradesh. The channel had been used primarily for managing the military standoff in eastern Ladakh following the deadly Galwan clashes of 2020.
Lt Gen Girish Kalia, commander of the Army’s III Corps, also known as the Spear Corps, led the Indian delegation, with his Chinese counterpart participating in the talks, according to defence sources.
The discussions focused on border-related issues, maintaining peace and tranquillity along the LAC and strengthening communication mechanisms between the two militaries, the sources said.
The talks assume added significance against the backdrop of recent tensions along the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh and the renewed diplomatic effort to stabilise bilateral ties. They followed the August 25 meeting in Beijing between Doval and Wang, who are the Special Representatives of India and China for the boundary question.
The two sides had agreed during the latest round of diplomatic engagement on an eight-point outcome plan, including establishing new military hotlines and additional border meeting points in the eastern and middle sectors. The Wacha meeting could mark an early operationalisation of that effort to strengthen communication at the LAC.
India and China have held 23 rounds of Corps Commander-level talks at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point in eastern Ladakh since the 2020 military standoff. The latest, or 23rd, round was held in October 2025.
The military engagement in Ladakh followed the Galwan clashes of June 2020, in which soldiers from both sides were killed. The subsequent standoff led to a prolonged deployment of tens of thousands of troops along the LAC.
A breakthrough came in October 2024, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia. Their meeting paved the way for an agreement on patrolling arrangements in the Depsang Plains and Demchok, leading to disengagement from the two remaining major friction points in eastern Ladakh.
The latest Corps Commander-level meeting in Arunachal Pradesh indicates that the two sides are now seeking to extend the military confidence-building architecture beyond eastern Ladakh, even as the broader boundary dispute remains unresolved.
Team Bharatshakti
