‘ India, China in talks to set up defence hotline’
India and China are in talks to update a 12- year- old defence agreement and establish a hotline between the two defence ministries as part of confidence building measures, a top PLA official said on Thursday.
During Chinese defence minister General Wei Fenghe’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi last week, the two sides had in- depth discussions on how to further implement the important consensus reached between Mr Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, defence ministry spokesman Colonel Wu Qian said.
Mr Modi and Mr Xi, during their first- ever informal summit in Wuhan in April, reached a consensus on managing various aspects of India- China relations including the two militaries, especially in the backdrop of the Doklam standoff.
The hotline between the two militaries — Indian Army and People’s Liberation Army ( PLA) — was regarded as a major Confidence Building Measure as it would enable both the headquarters to intensify communication to avert tensions between border patrols and to avoid standoffs like Doklam.
Tensions between India and China reached their peak during a 73- day standoff in Doklam near Bhutan over Beijing’s construction of a road in the area. The standoff ended after both sides agreed to disengage.
Wu said both the countries are also in consultations to work on a new Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) between the defence ministries.
“In 2006, India and China signed an MoU on defence exchanges and cooperation. The Indian side conveyed its willingness to sign a new version of the MoU. China holds a positive attitude towards it and the two sides are in communication with each other,” Wu said.