No visible expression of military talks held with the Chinese on ground: Indian EAM

Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said senior military commanders of India and China have held nine rounds of talks on the process of disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh and the parleyswill continue in future also.

Jaishankar added there has so far been no "visible expression" of the talks on ground as he addressed reporters in Vijayawada.

"The disengagement talks, because it is a very complicated issue, because it depends on troops, you have to know the geography (like) which position and what is happening, this is being done by the military commanders," he said -- in reply to a query on whether there would be any ministerial level talks between both the countries on skirmishes between troops of the Asian giants.

China and India are locked in a military standoff in eastern Ladakh since May 5 last. The two countries have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks to resolve the face-off, but no significant headway has been made so far.

"So, military commanders have held nine rounds of meetings so far. We believe some progress has been made, but it is not, in a kind of situation where there is a visible expression of that on the ground," he said.

During the COVID-19 induced lockdown last year, Jaishankar noted that as many as four million Indians stranded abroad were brought back by operating 17,000 flights. The workers who came back from gulf countries during the COVID-19 pandemic have now started returning, which is a good sign, he added.