India, China resume military exchanges

BEIJING, APRIL 8. The high-level military-to-military exchanges between India and China have resumed, enabling the armed forces of both sides to enhance mutual trust and cooperation in the new millennium, official sources said.

``We would welcome more army-to-army exchanges with China in the future so that greater transparency and friendship exists between the two countries,'' the GOC-in-Chief of the Eastern Command of the Indian Army, Lt. Gen. H.R.S. Kalkat, said.

Lt. Gen. Kalkat, whose just-concluded week-long visit to China led to the resumption of high-level army-to-army exchanges between New Delhi and Beijing after the freeze in bilateral military ties following the Pokhran-II tests in May 1998, has told the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) that India favoured bilateral exchanges at the ``appropriate level''. Though Lt. Gen. Kalkat's visit took place at the height of the still unresolved diplomatic stand-off between Beijing and Washington over the U.S. spy plane issue, the talks went on as scheduled and in a friendly atmosphere.

During a meeting between the chief of staff of PLA Gen. Fu Quanyou and Lt. Gen. Kalkat, the former underscored the need for China and India to enhance understanding and mutual trust.

Gen. Fu, who is also a member of the Central Military Commission, said that the two countries should resolve their existing problems in line with ``mutual understanding, mutual concession and mutual adjustment''.

The PLA chief of staffalso expounded the stance adopted by the Chinese government on the Taiwan issue, and briefed Lt. Gen. Kalkat on China's foreign policy.

- PTI

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : PPP mulls over Benazir's options
Next     : Pak. parties to hold rally for elections