India is not “unduly worried” over China's massive military modernisation programme, but there was need to build up infrastructure and capability of the own armed forces, according to Defence Minister A.K. Antony.
“Modernisation of the armed forces in China and its ever-increasing military spending is a matter of serious concern but we are not unduly worried…The Indian government is also now modernising its armed forces to meet any challenge…we are also strengthening our infrastructure along our borders,” Mr. Antony told journalists on the sidelines of a conference here.
The Minister said India's capacity-building was not done keeping in mind developments in a particular country but what was required by the armed forces. Defence review, he stressed, was an ongoing process and not static.
Over the last few years, India had steadily shored up its resources across the border with China. Besides plans to place two Mountain Divisions in the North-East, it was decided to station at least two squadrons of SU30MKI fighter aircraft in the region. Simultaneously, the work of building border roads and activating advanced landing grounds close to the border with China was on.
On the long-standing border issuewith China, he said it could be solved only through dialogue.
Earlier, addressing the Asian Security Conference — organised by the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses — Mr. Antony said India's security relations with other nations were governed by its security imperatives and not aimed against other countries.
Mr. Antony said India felt there was sufficient space for the rise of all in Asia together. This idea was shared by China and articulated by the Prime Ministers of the two countries, during the visit of Premier Wen Jiabao to New Delhi late last year.
