India and China had reached “an agreement… on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control. Image source: Indian Express

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced on October 21 that India and China had reached “an agreement… on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control… leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had arisen” following Chinese transgressions “in these areas in 2020”. The question that remains to be clarified is whether “disengagement” will cover all extant areas of dispute where patrolling has been blocked on both sides, including the so-called “legacy disputes” in eastern Ladakh at Demchok and Depsang or only those areas that came into contention in 2020.

Both Misri and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who spoke at another event a few hours later, were reluctant to answer direct questions on these two areas, repeatedly referring to 2020 as the year of consequence. This reluctance might have several reasons.

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