External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is likely to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi today for bilateral talks aimed at defusing tension after a spike in hostilities along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border between the two nations.
The foreign ministers are in Moscow to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting. The two leaders will also meet at a luncheon of the Foreign Ministers of Russia-India-China (RIC).
The Jaishankar-Wang talks will take place against the backdrop of a fresh stand-off at the southern bank of Pangong Tso on Monday, when Chinese soldiers armed with spears and rifles tried to close in on Indian forward posts in an apparent attempt to force a physical fight on the lines of the June 14 clash at Galwan Valley, in which 20 Indian soldiers died for the country. Shots were fired for the first time along the LAC in 45 years.
India said Chinese soldiers, forced to retreat, fired shots in the air. China claimed that Indian soldiers had fired warning shots after “crossing the LAC”, which India firmly denied.