The Indian side had repeatedly demanded comprehensive disengagement at all flashpoints along the Line of Actual Control and restoration of status quo ante of early April for restoration of peace and tranquillity at the border with China.

Indian and Chinese military are about to implement a border disengagement plan under reciprocal principle, China’s state media claimed in a news report on Friday. The report, published by Global Times, a tabloid of the Chinese Communist Party, also claimed that the disengagement plan requires India to first withdraw its soldiers from the friction points in eastern Ladakh. Quoting anonymous sources, the tabloid said China will consider disengaging its army from the northern side of the Pangong Tso once the Indian army withdraws.

“India should first withdraw staff who illegally crossed the line on the southern side of the Pangong Tso Lake, and China will then consider disengaging on the northern side of the lake,” sources told the tabloid published by the People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party of China’s official newspaper.

The Chinese foreign ministry did not respond to requests from the Hindustan Times to comment on the report in Global Times.

There has been no formal response from New Delhi to the claim reported by Chinese state media. But India had made it clear right after the initial rounds of diplomatic and military talks that since China’s People’s Liberation Army troops were the first to provoke, Indian troops could not be expected to be the first to take a step back. Northern Army commander Lieutenant General YK Joshi told reporters in July that the army would continue all efforts to restore status quo ante (the situation as it existed in early April) along the Line of Actual Control.