On Thursday, October 31, in an oddly lighthearted scene, Chinese and Indian soldiers, having been stationed in a tense standoff in the Himalayas for the past four years, exchanged candy at several points along the border in celebration of Diwali, a major Hindu festival during which Indian families traditionally give each other candy.
This demonstration of friendliness follows the border agreement announced by India on October 21, the day before a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping – the first in five years – on the sidelines of a BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit. The agreement was confirmed by Beijing, which stated, "The two sides have reached resolutions on relevant matters, which China speaks highly of. Going forward, China will work with India to implement these resolutions." But no details of the agreement have been made public.
The agreement addresses the restoration of patrol and pasture rights along a section of the 3,488-kilometer demarcation line (called the "Line of Actual Control"), which was created in 1962 after a brief war that ended with the defeat of India and the Chinese annexation of much of Ladakh. Patrols were suspended after a deadly clash on June 15, 2020, in the Galwan Valley, located in the icy heights of Ladakh; 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers were killed. New Delhi accuses its neighbor of being behind the attack.
The day before the candy exchange, the Indian army had announced that troops had withdrawn from Depsang and Demchok, the two remaining friction points in Ladakh out of the six areas where the People's Liberation Army had entered to block Indian patrols. Over the course of previous negotiations, the two rivals managed to reach an agreement on the Galwan Valley, the Pangong Tso Lake, and the pastoral areas of Gogra and Hot Springs by creating buffer zones, leaving only these two final pockets in eastern Ladakh.
New Delhi talks about a "complete disengagement," involving the dismantling of temporary structures such as sheds and tents used for equipment, vehicles and troops. The Chinese army, more laconically, declared that troops were "making progress" in implementing the recent agreement, refusing to address the question of disengagement.
Since the 2020 confrontation, the Himalayas have been the scene of increasing militarization. The two armies have deployed tens of thousands of men and built up infrastructure. The Chinese have set up villages and renamed some Indian villages. Experts estimate that the Chinese army has taken over around 1,000 square kilometers of Indian territory.
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