Disengagement after we return to 2020 situation: Army Chief on India-China deal

Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi said India would be looking at disengagement and de-escalation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China after a return to the 2020 situation. In an interview with India Today, the Army Chief, however, said it was important to see that buffer zones that have been created were not being encroached upon.
The remarks come a day after the External Affairs Ministry said India and China had reached an agreement to resume patrolling in disputed areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, ending a four-year military standoff. India has accused China of occupying about 1,000 sq km of Indian territory in Ladakh since May 2020.
In his first remarks on the deal, General Dwivedi said, “We want to go back to the status quo of April 2020. Then, we will be looking for disengagement and de-escalation. We are trying to restore trust by seeing each other.”
“We have to see that the buffer zones that have been created are not being creeped in. As the patrolling starts, we will see the building of trust,” the Army Chief further said.
China also said it had reached an agreement with India to end the standoff, which was first announced by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri during a briefing on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia for the Brics Summit.
Later, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also said Indian and Chinese soldiers would be able to resume patrolling in the way they had been doing before the border face-off began.
The troops of both nations had previously disengaged from four places, including the Galwan Valley, where a deadly clash in June 2020 left 20 Indian soldiers and several Chinese troops dead. The new agreement will facilitate patrolling in the Depsang and Demchok areas.
On modernisation of the armed forces, the Army Chief said the culture of research and development was not there in India previously. “We have the Army Design Bureau. DRDO restructuring is taking place. We have carried out tests related to quantum technology. We have reached a particular stage, but it is a long way to go,” he said.