New Delhi:
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun in Vientiane, Lao PDR. This was the first meeting of the two leaders after the military withdrawal from Ladakh. He reviewed the situation along the Line of Actual Control and withdrawal of troops in those areas.
The meeting took place in the capital of Laos on the sidelines of a summit of the 10-nation ASEAN grouping and some of its dialogue partners. Rajnath Singh’s office said on the social media platform ‘X’, “Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is holding a bilateral meeting with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun in Vientiane, Lao PDR.”
Indian and Chinese armies had completed the withdrawal process in Demchok and Depsang at the end of last month. Earlier, after several talks, an agreement was reached between the two sides to resolve the border dispute. Both sides also started patrolling in both the areas after a gap of about four and a half years.
Rajnath Singh’s three-day visit to Vientiane began on Wednesday with the main objective of attending the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus). ADMM-Plus is a forum comprising the 10-nation ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and its eight dialogue partners – India, China, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia, and the United States. Laos is hosting this meeting as the current Chair of ADMM-Plus.
