Top Indian and Chinese military commanders met for the first time in the Arunachal Pradesh sector during two sessions held on both sides of the border this week as a follow-up to recent meetings of the Special Representatives and a border mechanism, the external affairs ministry said on Tuesday.
He did not go into the details of the discussions between the military officials. The Indian army has not commented on the talks. It is not usual for Indian and Chinese military commanders to hold talks on both sides of the border, and discussions in the western sector are usually held alternatively on either side of the LAC.
Lt Gen Girish Kalia, who heads the Dimapur-based 3 Corps, led the Indian side. The 24th round of talks between the Special Representatives – India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi – in New Delhi on August 19 had resulted in 10 points of consensus, including creating mechanisms for talks between military commanders in the eastern and middle sectors of the LAC.
The military talks focused on issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the eastern sector, including maintaining peace and tranquillity along the frontier, people familiar with the matter said. “Pursuant to the understandings reached between the Special Representatives of India and China in August 2025 and August 2026 and subsequent discussions at the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC), meetings of which were held in Beijing and New Delhi in May and August 2026 respectively, the first senior highest military commander-level flag meeting was held at Wacha on the Indian side in Arunachal Pradesh on September 6 and in Damai on the Chinese side on September 7,” Jaiswal said at the media briefing. People familiar with the matter said the talks in the Arunachal Pradesh sector were held over two days as there were several issues to be discussed.
The first session of the flag meeting between the senior military commanders was held on the Indian side on Sunday and the second session on the Chinese side on Monday, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a regular media briefing.
