Chinese President Xi Jinping has held a video conversation with the soldiers stationed along the India-China border in eastern Ladakh and inspected their combat readiness, official media here reported on Friday.

Xi addressed the troops from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) headquarters here on the border defence situation in Khunjerab under the Xinjiang Military Command.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China and the commander-in-chief of the PLA, in his remarks to the troops, referred to how “in recent years, the area has been constantly changing” and how it had impacted the Army, according to the video shown in the official media.

During the call, he “inspected their combat readiness”, the report said.

One of the soldiers replied that they were now carrying out “dynamic” and “24-hour” monitoring of the border. Xi asked about their condition and whether they were able to “receive fresh vegetables” in the inhospitable terrain.

The official media reported Xi had asked the border troops “about their border patrol and management work” and “hailed the soldiers as models of border defence and encouraged them to persist in their efforts and make new contributions.” Eastern Ladakh is the region where a standoff erupted on May 5, 2020 between India and China following a violent clash in the Pangong lake area.

The two sides have held 17 rounds of high-level military talks on the eastern Ladakh border standoff but there was no significant forward movement in resolution of the remaining issues.

India has asserted that peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are essential for overall development of bilateral relationship with China. PTI KJV NSA AKJ NSA