The last phase of border disengagement was agreed upon between India and China on October 21, 2024
“Verification patrolling “ has commenced in the Demchok and Depsang areas of Eastern Ladakh's border areas  as part of the recent disengagement agreement between India and China, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed on Saturday (November 2, 2024).

Responding to questions at the weekly media briefing in New Delhi, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal added that “relevant dialogue mechanisms” will be used to stabilise and rebuild bilateral relations in line with the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi President Xi Jinping in Kazan last month. 

“You are all aware that on October 21, 2024, the last phase of disengagement was agreed upon between India and China. As a result, verification patrolling has commenced on mutually agreed terms in Demchok and Depsang. And as things move forward, we'll keep you updated on this matter,” Jaiswal stated.

Asked about India-China economic ties, Jaiswal said “As agreed at the leaders’ meeting in Kazan, relevant dialogue mechanisms at the level of Foreign Ministers and other officials will be utilized or used to stabilize and rebuild bilateral relations… we will let you know when these mechanisms meet to deal with issues of each other's interests and concerns”.

Meeting on the margins of the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia on October 23, 2024, Prime Minister Modi and President Xi agreed that the Special Representatives on the India-China boundary question will meet at an early date to oversee the management of peace & tranquility in border areas and to explore a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question. The relevant dialogue mechanisms at the level of Foreign Ministers and other officials will also be utilized to stabilize and rebuild bilateral relations, the MEA stated.

Foreign Secretary Misri had earlier elaborated on what the two sides had agreed upon while replying to queries at a special media briefing in Kazan on October 22, 2024. “In the pending areas under discussion, patrolling and indeed grazing activities, wherever applicable, will revert to the situation as it obtained in 2020,” he stated. 

Foreign Secretary Misri made the statements a day after announcing a major breakthrough following several weeks of intense negotiations between Indian and Chinese officials, saying both sides had reached an agreement on patrolling arrangements on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on the India-China border, leading to disengagement.

The agreement had led to a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020, Foreign Secretary Misri stated. He explained that Indian and Chinese negotiators at the diplomatic and military levels have been in close contact with each other over the last several weeks in a variety of forums.  

More recently, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh referred to the border agreement with China while speaking at the Indian Army’s 4 Corps Headquarters in Tezpur, Assam last week, saying that the process of disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was almost complete. 

“India and China have been holding talks at both diplomatic and military levels to resolve the differences in some areas along the LAC. As a result of the talks, a broad consensus was developed on the basis of equal and mutual security,” he said at an event to virtually dedicate to the nation a statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the Major Ralengnao ‘Bob’ Khathing ‘Museum of Valour’ at Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. He was supposed to visit Tawang, but could not due to bad weather.

According to Singh, the consensus includes the rights of patrolling and grazing in traditional areas. “Based on this consensus, the process of disengagement is almost complete. Our efforts will be to take the matter beyond disengagement; but for that, we will have to wait a little longer,” he said.

In June 2020, a tense standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in Eastern Ladakh had led to a violent face-off in the Galwan Valley. Twenty Indian soldiers had lost their lives. A large number of Chinese troops were also killed though China has never officially confirmed the actual number of deaths.
 
Multiple rounds of talks at the military and diplomatic levels since then led to a disengagement at several locations but the subsequent meetings did not see announcements of fresh disengagement along the remaining friction points along LAC in the Western Sector in the Eastern Ladakh region until last month.