India, China agree on slew of measures, including joint army exercise

New Delhi: Pushing their defence engagement, India and China today agreed on a slew of measures, including holding of joint Army exercise this year and strengthening maritime security cooperation while maintaining peace and tranquility on the dispute border. At the 6th Annual Defence Dialogue here, the two sides discussed increasing the number of interactions between them at multiple levels along with the setting up of hotlines between the two Armies at brigade, corps and command levels along with a similar setup at their respective Army headquarters, Defence Ministry sources said here. [caption id=“attachment_1406601” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Lieutenant General Wang Guanzhong and Defence Minister AK Anthony. AFP[/caption] The two sides agreed to continue to expand the exchanges between their armed forces to foster mutual trust and understanding. “Both sides took note of the successful conduct of the Joint Army exercise in China in 2013 and agreed to conduct the next joint Army exercise in India in 2014,” a Defence Ministry statement said. Other agreed measures include strengthening of maritime security cooperation between Navies and officer exchanges and professional interactions at various levels of all Services, it said. During the Dialogue, led by Defence Secretary RK Mathur from Indian side and Deputy Chief of General Staff of the PLA Lt Gen Wang Guanzhong from the Chinese side, the two countries also agreed on increasing “exchanges in the areas of peacekeeping, counter terrorism and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.” The two sides agreed that maintenance of peace and tranquility on the border was an important guarantor for the development and growth of the bilateral relationship between both countries. It was decided that both sides should continue to take suitable measures in this direction, the statement said. PTI