By IANS,
New Delhi : India and China Friday held their Annual Defence Dialogue (ADD) in an “atmosphere of cordiality”, “breaking the ice” of nearly two years in their military ties and agreeing to move forward on the recently stalled border negotiations by putting in place a mechanism to resolve the six decades old dispute.
At the fourth ADD round, India also put forward a few suggestions for the confidence building measures (CBM) along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) based on their 2005 protocol for maintaining peace and tranquility, such as one relating to relocation of border outposts, which the Chinese side agreed to consider.
Led by India’s Defence secretary Shashikant Sharma and Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Deputy Chief of General Staff General Ma Xiaotian, the two sides for over three hours discussed all matters relating to their military ties. They also shared their perspectives on the regional and global security issues, according to a defence ministry official here.
The fourth defence dialogue comes after nearly two years — the third round was held in Beijing in January 2010 — following a thaw in their bilateral relations after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Sanya, China, to attend the first BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group meet in April this year.
The defence exchanges between the two nations were suspended by New Delhi after its senior army General, commanding forces in border state of Jammu and Kashmir, was not issued a proper visa by Beijing to visit that country in mid-2010.
“The fourth ADD was held, breaking the ice after the bilateral military ties had been frozen for a while,” the official said, without mentioning the visa episode for an Indian General in 2010.
“The meeting was conducted in an atmosphere of cordiality and both sides were frank and constructive in their approach during the deliberations,” the official added.
The two countries had established the ADD under the provisions of a memorandum of understanding for ‘Exchanges and Cooperation in the Field of Defence’ signed in May 2006. The first ADD was held in November 2007.
“Both sides agreed that the provisions of the 2005 protocol for implementation of CBMs on the LAC should be strictly adhered to by both sides so that peace and tranquility is maintained in the border areas,” the official said.
“In this connection, the Indian side made some suggestions, which the Chinese side agreed to consider,” he added.
It was also noted at the meeting that the strengthening of the institutional mechanism for border discussions, which is expected to be operationalised soon through the establishment of a working-level mechanism, would improve communications on important border-related issues.
The Special Representatives level talks on border dispute between India’s National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and Chinese Special Representative Dai Bingguo scheduled in November were cancelled at the last minute as Beijing was miffed over a Buddhist conference in India being addressed by the Dalai Lama.