SUSHMA TO VISIT CHINA IN APRIL, TO ATTEND SCO MEETING

NEWDELHI: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj will travel to China on April 23-24 to attend the foreign ministers’ meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also expected to attend the summit in the Chinese city of Qingdao in June.

“The external affairs minister will be travelling to China to attend the SCO foreign ministers’ scheduled for April 23-24,” an official said.

Swaraj’s visit also comes in the backdrop of efforts being made by India and China to repair their ties and build on the convergences after last year’s military standoff in Doklam at India-tibet-bhutan tri-junction.

Swaraj is scheduled to travel to Japan on a bilateral visit from March 28. She will travel to the US to participate in the strategic dialogue in the ‘2+2’ format (consultations defence consultations) in Washington on April 18. Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman is also scheduled to travel to the US for the dialogue.

During her China visit, Swaraj is also expected to hold bilateral meeting with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines. The two leaders had held a bilateral in December here on the sidelines of the Russia-indiaChina (RIC) trilateral.

‘INDIA, CHINA ARMIES’ EXERCISE TO RESUME’

Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Tuesday said that an annual Indo-china joint army drill that was cancelled last year in the aftermath of the Doklam border row would resume this year.

Speaking at a function, he said the Indian Army and the Chinese army had held a meeting and the Hand-in-hand exercise was back on track.

Rawat stressed that military diplomacy with China had worked and things were moving forward.

He said that China had arrived on the world stage and was challenging the might of the US as they (China) did not forget that military power should rise along with economic growth.