India and China will hold the seventh round of high-level military talks over the border row in eastern Ladakh, on Monday, PTI reported. The talks will begin at 12:00 pm (IST) at Chushul, on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The Indian side will be led by Lt Gen Harinder Singh, the commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps of the Indian Army. It’ll also comprise of Lt Gen PGK Menon and Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs Naveen Srivastava among others.

The last round of talks was held on September 21, in which the two sides decided not to send more troops to the frontline, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground and avoid taking any actions that may further complicate matters.

The agenda of Monday’s meeting will be to firm up a roadmap for disengagement of troops from all the friction points in eastern Ladakh, PTI quoted sources as saying.

The sources said India will strongly oppose any demand by China for the withdrawal of Indian troops from several strategic heights on the southern bank of the Pangong lake to kick-start the disengagement process.

During the last round of Corps Commander-level talks, the Chinese military insisted on the withdrawal of troops by the Indian Army from several strategic heights in Mukhpari, Rezang La and Magar hill areas around the southern bank of Pangong lake.

Indian troops occupied the strategic heights after the Chinese military attempted to intimidate them in the southern bank of Pangong Lake on the intervening night of August 29 and 30.

India has been maintaining that the disengagement process has to start simultaneously at all the friction points.

At the talks, the two sides are also expected to look into further steps to maintain stability on the ground and avoid any action that may trigger fresh tension in the region where troops from both sides will be facing difficult conditions in the next four months due to harsh winters, the source said.

India’s strategy for the military talks was finalised by the China Study Group (CSG), that comprises of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and three service chiefs.

India and China are engaged in a stern border row, starting May, this year.

The situation in eastern Ladakh deteriorated following at least three attempts by the Chinese military to “intimidate” Indian troops along the northern and southern bank of Pangong lake area between August 29 and September 8 where even shots were fired in the air for the first time at the LAC in 45 years.

As the tensions escalated further, the foreign ministers of the two countries held talks in Moscow on September 10 where they reached on the five-point agreement to defuse the situation in eastern Ladakh.

The agreement was the basis for the sixth round of Corps commander-level talks.

In the last three months, the Indian Army rushed tanks, heavy weaponry, ammunition, fuel, food and essential winter supplies into various treacherous and high-altitude areas of the region to maintain combat readiness through the harsh winter of around four months beginning mid-October.