NEW DELHI • The defence ministers of India and China were expected to hold talks in Moscow yesterday, government officials said, the highest-level face-to-face political contact since tensions flared along their disputed mountain border in May.

Both sides deployed additional forces along the frontier running through the western Himalayas after a clash in June during which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand fighting.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was given clearance to meet his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe in Moscow, where both are attending a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, an Indian government official said.

The request for the meeting came from the Chinese side, the official added. "Subsequently a green signal was given for the meeting," the official said, asking not to be identified because of Indian service rules.

There was no word from China, but Mr Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of China's state-backed Global Times newspaper, said on Twitter that a meeting between the defence ministers was expected.

"Based on what I know, this arrangement between the two sides has made progress. The meeting between Wei Fenghe and Rajnath Singh has a big probability to be held," Mr Hu said.

Despite the brutality of the clash in June, both sides appeared to observe a protocol to avoid the use of firearms in the high-altitude region.

Military commanders and diplomats have been holding talks to end the stand-off on the Line of Actual Control, or the de facto border, but there has been little progress.

Last weekend, Indian officials said forces on the border mobilised to deter Chinese troops, whose movements suggested they aimed to occupy hilltops that India considered to be within its territory.

India executed a stealthy night-time operation on Monday to claim the strategic outposts offering a clear view of troop movements in the disputed territory.

The action was also taken to counter what India saw as enhanced Chinese deployment of troops close to the Thakung base in Indian territory.

China, however, has blamed India for trespassing the LAC, saying the "move has grossly violated China's territorial sovereignty", according to a Chinese embassy spokesman in New Delhi.

But both countries have repeatedly reiterated that they are keen on talks to resolve the process, with military officials meeting for several days this week south of Ladakh's Pangong Tso lake, where the latest flare-up occurred.

"The situation along the LAC is slightly tense," Indian army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane told Reuters partner ANI during a tour of the frontier in the Ladakh region, adding that he believed talks could help resolve the situation.

"We are sure that the problem can be resolved fully through talks," he added.

A United States government source told Reuters in Washington that the US assessment is that neither China nor India are interested in pushing the dispute to the point that they would engage in war.

Both India and China have moved thousands of troops, tanks, artillery guns and fighter jets close to the border since their stand-off began in May.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE