New Delhi: Sino-Indian military ties are improving with the two armies maintaining strategic dialogue and strengthening exchanges along the border, the Chinese defence ministry said on December 26.
The relationship between the two militaries is an important part of the overall relationship and the Chinese military is willing to work with their Indian counterpart to contribute to its growth, Senior PLA Colonel Wu Qian said in Beijing.
Wu was speaking of bilateral military ties in the context of the joint counter-terrorism exercise held at Umroi near Shillong in Meghalaya, which concluded last week.
“It (military ties) is an important component of the overall relationship. Thanks to the efforts of the two heads of state, the military relationship is improving and the two countries maintain strategic dialogues and conduct practical cooperation and (have) also strengthened their exchanges along the borders,” Wu said.
Wu said the Chinese military was willing to work with its Indian counterpart to promote the growth of general bilateral ties.
“We are willing to work together with the Indian side to follow the guidance of our heads of state and promote military to military relationship, continue to develop along the right and make more contributions to the growth of bilateral relations,” Wu said at the monthly defence ministry press conference.
Against the backdrop of overall bilateral ties riddled with the festering border dispute and the new diplomatic differences, defence links between two of the world’s largest militaries have remained cool at best and have occasionally even turned hostile as during the 73-day Doklam standoff in 2017.
One highlight of a military-to-military exchange between the two countries in 2019 was the Indian Navy’s frontline warships, INS Kolkata, an indigenously built stealth destroyer, participating in People’s Liberation Army Navy’s 70th-anniversary fleet review in April along with fleet tanker INS Shakti, one of the Indian Navy’s largest ships.
This month’s 14-day China-India Army “Hand-in-Hand 2019” joint counter-terrorism exercise held in Meghalaya was in fact just the eighth version of the only formal mechanism the two countries have for a bilateral military drill.
