Indian and Chinese army offices are to held a flag meeting on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Sikkim later this month to discuss confidence building measures on their frontier, an official said Thursday.
However, it was not immediately clear if they would discuss a Chinese demand for closing two bunkers on the Indian side of the border at the tri-junction of Sikkim, West Bengal and Bhutan near the Batungla Pass.
'We have seen media reports on this. These bunkers are not new. They have been in existence for a while. If at all there is any new Chinese demand on these bunkers, the issue will be handled at the diplomatic level,' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
'The flag meeting was scheduled in normal course long before the Chinese demand is said to have been made. It is certainly not in response to this demand, if at all it has been made,' the official pointed out.
India's defence and external affairs ministries have so far refrained from officially commenting on the reported Chinese demand.
Indian and Chinese army officers regularly hold flag meetings under the September 1993 agreement on maintaining peace and tranquillity along the LAC, the November 1996 agreement on CBMs in the military field along the LAC and April 2005 protocol between the two governments on the modalities for implementing CBMs along the LAC.
Sikkim Served Fresh Daily
