Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to hold talks with US counterpart Mark Esper over India-China face-off

NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will speak to his American counterpart Mark Esper over the telephone on Tuesday, during which the ongoing tensions at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China are expected to come up for discussion.

According to the Defence Ministry officials, "Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will talk to his American counterpart Mark Esper over the telephone. Ongoing tensions between India and China on the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh expected to come up for discussion in talks."

Meanwhile, the third round of Corps Commander-level talks between India and China to discuss and diffuse the tension over the ongoing dispute along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh is scheduled to be held at 10:30 am in Chushul, Leh today.

The first two rounds of talks had taken place in Moldo on the Chinese side of the LAC. In the second round of Corps Commander-level talks held on June 22, both sides reached a mutual consensus to disengage in the Eastern Ladakh sector, Army sources said.

The modalities for disengagement from all friction areas in Eastern Ladakh were discussed and these will be taken forward by both sides, the sources added.

India and China have been involved in talks to ease the ongoing border tensions since last month. Twenty Indian soldiers lost their lives in a violent face-off in the Galwan Valley on June 15-16 after an attempt by the Chinese troops to unilaterally change the status quo during the de-escalation.

Indian intercepts revealed that the Chinese side suffered 43 casualties including dead and seriously injured in the face-off.

In order to further tighten the noose around China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre had on Monday (June 29) banned 59 Chinese mobile apps including TikTok, UC Browser and Cam Scanner among others. 

A statement from the government said that the apps are 'engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order'.

India has been the biggest untapped market for some of China’s quirkiest social-media companies, which had been signing up hundreds of millions of consumers in the world’s second-most populous nation, looking to capture users who weren’t hooked on to US apps such as Facebook and Twitter.

A report from research firm Sensor Tower showed that the 59 banned apps have accumulated 4.9 billion (490 Crore) downloads from Apple Inc’s India App Store and Alphabet Inc’s Google Play since January 2014, including 750 million (75 Crore) so far this year.

Of the top 25 most downloaded apps on India’s App Store and Google Play since April, eight were from the Chinese manufacturers.