INDIA and China have moved most front-line troops further from disputed sections of their common border in the northern Himalayas, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said today.

He spoke some 10 days after the two countries reached a new pact on military patrols that aims to end a four-year stand-off that has strained relations between Beijing and New Delhi.

Mr Singh said the “process of disengagement” of Indian and Chinese troops near the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh is “almost complete.”

The Line of Actual Control separates Chinese and Indian-held territories extending from the Ladakh region in the west to India’s eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as its own. The two countries fought a deadly war over the border in 1962.

Bilaterial relations deteriorated in July 2020 after a military clash killed at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese. That turned into a long-running stand-off in the rugged mountainous area, as each side stationed tens of thousands of military personnel backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets in close confrontation positions.

Earlier this month, the two neighbours announced a border accord aimed at ending the stand-off, followed by a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the recent Brics summit in Russia, their first bilateral meeting in five years.

“Our efforts will be to take the matter beyond disengagement, but for that, we will have to wait a little longer,” Mr Singh said.

Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said today that the front-line troops were “making progress in implementing the resolutions in an orderly manner.”

The agreement calls for Indian and Chinese troops to pull back from the last two areas of the border where they were close to each other. 

After the deadly confrontation in 2020, soldiers were placed in what commanders called “eyeball to eyeball” positions at at least six sites. 

Most disputes were resolved in previous rounds of military and diplomatic talks as the two nations agreed to create buffer zones.

However, disagreements over pulling back from the Depsang and Demchok areas remained until the latest pact was agreed on October 21.

“Given how deep mistrust has been between the two countries and how all confidence-building measures collapsed, it is quite a positive beginning,” said Lieutenant General DS Hooda, who from 2014 to 2016 headed India’s Northern Command, which covers the Kashmir region, including Ladakh.