New Delhi: The ninth round of military dialogue between India and China is expected to take place after the newly appointed the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Western Theatre Commander Gen Zhang Xudong completes his military familiarisation and troop deployments on the Indian border.
Gen Zhang, who has never served on the Indian border or Tibet had taken over from Tibet veteran Gen Zao Zongqi on December 21.
Gen Zhao was the major implementer of Beijing aggression in Doklam in 2017 and in the East Ladakh in May 2020.
In the December 18 meeting, the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) had ended on a positive note, however, the ninth round of military talks are crucial as both sides are expected to work towards working out a written disengagement and de-escalation agreement.
"It is work in progress and till such time a firm agreement is not chalked out, India is holding positions on East Ladakh," said a military officer.
Regarding the dates of the ninth round, the Indian understanding is that this could be due to the new PLA Western Theatre Commander taking over as the military leader of Tibet and Xinjiang. The induction process of a new military commander takes time as Gen Zhang is expected to visit the key deployments and receive the operational briefings about the situation along the 3488-kilometre Line of Actual Control (LAC).
As of now, Indian officials said that they expect the new military commander to take a similar line against India as the last one since Beijing appeared to be keeping East Ladakh in stand-off mode to achieve its strategic objectives during the 100th year of Chinese Communist Party in 2021.
There is speculation about President Xi to project China as the global economic and military power ahead of the Communist Party of China's main centenary celebrations in July next year.
The Chinese propaganda media, on its part, is, as usual, blaming India and right-wing nationalism for hyping up the threat from the Middle Kingdom and using it to decouple economic ties.
The Indian Army has dominated the Rezang La-Rechin La ridgeline on Kailash Ranges after specialised troops have pre-empted on August 29-30 to force the 1959 line on the southern banks.