Defense Ministers of India, China expected to meet in Moscow

In a bid to break the deadlock in Ladakh, Indian defense minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to meet his Chinese counterpart, General Wei Fenghe, on Friday evening on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) ministerial meeting in Moscow. It is the first major political contact between India and China since the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) unilaterally changed the status quo on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in May 2020 in east Ladakh.

According to people familiar with Moscow and Delhi’s developments, the meeting was arranged at the behest of both sides mutually to find a way out of the current stalemate in Ladakh with both the Indian Army and PLA deployed in full strength to counter each other. That the Ladakh stand-off will be the topic of discussion is evident from the presence of the ministry of external affairs joint secretary (East Asia) Naveen Srivastava in Moscow on Friday. Srivastava has held a series of conversations with his Chinese counterpart under the working mechanism for consultation and coordination on India-China border affairs towards disengagement and de-escalation of the PLA in the contested sectors.

The meeting between two defense ministers is crucial as Rajnath Singh is number two in the Narendra Modi government. A former BJP president, Gen Wei, a former missile force commander, is a state councilor and member of the all-powerful Central Military Commission. The CMC, headed by chairman President Xi Jinping, controls the PLA.with the President as commander-in-chief.

After this meeting, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the same Moscow platform on September 10.