India and China have resolved to undertake several military level confidence measures (CBMs) including information sharing in conducting anti-piracy measures in the Gulf of Aden, begin groundwork for a joint military exercise in China in 2011 and ensure greater interaction at the border in the form of sports competitions between the troops to mark the 60th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, said highly placed sources.
At the third Annual Defence Dialogue held in Beijing on January 6 and 7, both sides also decided to maintain the tempo of high level exchange of visits between defence officials and send officers for courses in each other’s military training institutes. The 10-member Indian delegation was led by Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar and the Chinese side was headed by People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Deputy Chief of the General Staff Gen. Ma Xiaotian.
The annual defence dialogue basically added more muscle to the confidence building measures in the military sphere agreed by the two sides in 2005.
“We conveyed that the strengthening of trust and cooperation between India and China is an important area of focus for the Indian government,” said the sources.
Both sides agreed to maintain peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and reiterated the importance of effectively using the existing mechanism of border meetings by defence personnel to diffuse any untoward incident.
With the deployment of warships by several countries and military alliances failing to curb piracy off the coast of Somalia due to lack of coordination, India and China have agreed that the two sides would share information about the deployment of their warships. Both countries have struck similar information agreements with ships of some other countries.
The two sides also exchanged views on counter-terrorism measures, regional security and maritime security cooperation. China pointed out that like India, it too was facing the threat of terrorism and agreed on the need to step up joint efforts.
Besides calling on Chinese Defence Minister Gen. Liang Guanglie, Mr. Kumar also visited the headquarters of PLA’s Sixth Armoured Division near Beijing and the Academy of Military Sciences, a renowned institution for defence studies and theoretical perspectives in the military field.
