China and India have withdrawn troops from the front line over disputed portions of their mountainous border, where they have been at an impasse for months, officials in both countries said.
The troops began withdrawing on Wednesday on the southern and northern shores of Lake Pangong, in the Ladakh region, according to officials.
India and China would remove advanced deployments “in a phased, coordinated and verified manner,” Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament on Thursday.
China’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that both sides had initiated a “synchronized and organized” shutdown.
The tense stalemate high in the Karakoram Mountains began in early May, when Indian officials said Chinese soldiers crossed the border at three different points in Ladakh, erecting tents and guard posts and ignoring verbal warnings to leave. This sparked screaming disputes, throwing stones and punching fights, many of which were repeated on television news channels and social networks.
Tensions erupted in hand-to-hand combat with clubs, stones and fists on June 15, which left 20 Indian soldiers dead. China is also believed to have suffered casualties, but gave no details.
Since then, the two countries have deployed tens of thousands of their soldiers supported by artillery, tanks and fighters along the fiercely contested Line of Control, or LAC, with troops preparing for the harsh winter.
The LAC separates the Chinese and Indian-controlled territories from Ladakh in the west to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims in its entirety. It is broken in parts where Nepal and Bhutan border China. It divides areas of physical control instead of territorial claims.
India claims the Chinese-controlled Aksai Chin plateau as part of the Ladakh region. According to India, the control line is 3,488 km (2,167 miles) long, while China says it is considerably shorter.
Relations between the two countries have been strained, in part due to the border dispute. They waged a border war in 1962 that reached Ladakh and ended in an uncomfortable truce. Since then, troops have protected the indefinite border and occasionally fought. They agreed not to attack with firearms.
But in September, China and India accused each other of sending soldiers into each other’s territory and fired warning shots for the first time in 45 years, raising the specter of a large-scale military conflict.
India unilaterally declared Ladakh a federal territory and separated it from disputed Kashmir in August 2019, ending the status of semi-autonomous Kashmir administered by India. He also promised to retake the Aksai Chin plateau. China was one of the first countries to strongly condemn the measure, raising it in international forums, including the UN security council.