LAC standoff live updates: Agreed on need to disengage as troops are deployed very close to each other, says Jaishankar

The Chinese military further thinned down its presence in the ridgeline of Finger Four and removed some boats from Pangong lake in eastern Ladakh ahead of another round of Lt General-level talks between India and China aimed at finalising modalities for complete disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), people familiar with the development said on Saturday.

A border clash has plunged ties between India and China to their lowest point in decades. But one beneficiary looks clear - the US-India relationship. Experts say India could finally end equivocation about openly aligning itself with the long-eager United States, although there will still be disagreements - which, paradoxically, are now mostly due to Washington.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday briefed his American counterpart Mark Esper on the latest developments in the over two-month troop confrontation with China, which has seen India deploy US-origin weapon systems like Apache attack helicopters and M-777 howitzers in eastern Ladakh. Though there was no official word on the telephonic talk between the two ministers, sources said bilateral defence ties as well as the regional security situation in face of an aggressive China in the entire Indo-Pacific region featured in the discussion.

Keeping a close eye on the military disengagement in eastern Ladakh, senior officials from India and China met virtually on Friday to talk through the details of the exercise, days before the next round of military-commander-level talks are due, and the Indian statement said both sides agreed to ensure complete disengagement and de-escalation.

Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong Friday called for the two countries to have timely strategic dialogue, enhance mutual trust and to shun suspicion and friction in bilateral ties. In his long statement, Sun didn't mention China's claim over the Galwan valley and underlined the need for the two countries to work together on a range of issues without falling into "the trap of conflict".

India will continue to closely track the operational situation along the LAC with China while maintaining full military readiness for any contingency, even though both Indian and Chinese troops have more or less pulled back from the confrontation sites in eastern Ladakh. This emerged in an hour-long comprehensive review by defence minister Rajnath Singh with chief of defence staff Gen Bipin Rawat and the three Service chiefs, Gen M M Naravane, Admiral Karambir Singh and Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria, among others.

Reflective of growing anti-China sentiment in the country, Congress functionaries have begun to suggest that India embrace a foreign policy closer to the US, with two prominent partymen speaking in favour of stronger leveraging of global platforms. In separate media columns dedicated to future foreign policy that India should pursue, AICC spokesman and MP Abhishek Singhvi and Rajya Sabha member Deepender Hooda on Friday suggested that the country should lean on the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue to counter-balance China.

Amid India-China standoff in Ladakh, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has decided to take up an audit of the Border Road Organisation in its current year plan. The BRO was tasked to complete 61 road projects along the strategically important India-China border at a cost of Rs 4,600 crore by 2012. Four years past the deadline only 36% of roads were found to have been completed.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday urged the government to listen to defence veterans and allow an independent fact-finding mission to "identify incursion, intrusion and encroachment" by China. He also asked the government to inform the country of the steps taken "to ensure no more Indian territory is taken by China".

India and China on Friday held a fresh round of diplomatic talks on the border row in eastern Ladakh and reaffirmed to ensure "complete disengagement" of the troops in the region for "full restoration" of peace and tranquility along Line of Actual Control.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh and US Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper talk over the phone to discuss bilateral military ties as well as the regional security situation, amidst the heightened tensions between India and China along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh.