Thaindian News

New Delhi, Nov 30 (IANS) India and China will hold their annual defence dialogue Dec 9 when the two sides will exchange their perspectives on regional and global security issues, apart from planning for their 2012 military exchanges, a government official said Wednesday.

At the fourth round of the annual defence dialogue to be held here, India’s defence secretary Shashikant Sharma and Chinese Deputy Chief of General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) General Ma Xiaotian will also review the ongoing confidence building measures on the borders between the two sides, Defence Ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar said here.

“During the annual defence dialogue, both sides will exchange perspectives on regional and global security issues. Both sides will also review the ongoing confidence building measures on the borders and are expected to finalise plans for further defence exchanges during 2012,” he said.

The two nations are going ahead with their dialogue despite the setback last week when the border talks between the Special Representatives from the two sides were suspended over China’s objection to India hosting a global Buddhist meet in which Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama was a special guest.

The defence dialogue comes after more than a year as India had suspended exchanges with China in protest against the denial of proper visa to its then commander of Indian Army troops in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in mid-2010 but was revived after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Sanya for the first BRICS summit earlier this year.

From the Indian side, a multi-command delegation led by a Major General heading a counter-insurgency force in Jammu and Kashmir visited China between June 19 and 23 this year and it was reciprocated by China with a PLA delegation to India from Nov 4 to 9.

“Both sides will undertake a further round of delegation exchanges before the end of this month,” Kar said.