Indo-China Ties Improving, Accepts PLA

It is probably the first time that China’s People’s Liberation Army popularly known as PLA has accepted that the ties with the Indian military is ‘improving’, because of the strategic dialogue, cooperation and exchanges. Thereby thanking the efforts of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China’s Defence Spokesperson Col Wu Qian has also said that both the countries have just concluded joint counterterrorism drills in India, which shows the determination of the two sides to protect the regional stability along with fighting terrorism.

Col Wu told a media briefing, “For the China-India relations, military relationship is the important component of the overall relationship. Thanks to the efforts of the two heads of the state, the military relationship is improving and two countries maintain strategic dialogues and conduct practical cooperation, and also strengthen their exchanges along their borders”.

The improvement of ties is attributed to the two informal summits, between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi at Wuhan in the year 2018 and Chennai this year, especially after the 73 day standoff at Doklam in 2017.

This year after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Xi said, “We should carefully handle issues concerning each other's core interests. We should properly manage and control problems that cannot be solved for the time being”.

He also stressed, both the countries should improve the level of security and military exchanges and cooperation, when he said, “We should promote the development of military-to-military relations in the right direction of enhancing trust, clearing up misgivings and friendly cooperation”.

In December both the countries also held 22nd round of the boundary talks in New Delhi, during which both the countries agreed to intensify efforts to achieve a reasonable, fair and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary issue.

Col Wu also said, the PLA is looking forward to further develop its ties with the Indian military in 2020. He said, “The year 2020 marks the 70th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between China and India, and the two militaries have plans to conduct various exchanges and celebration activities”.

He further said, “We are willing to work together with the Indian side to follow the guidance of our heads of state and promote the military-to-military relationship continue to develop along the right track and make more contributions to the growth of the bilateral relations”.

On December 21 this year militaries of both the countries concluded the 8th round of their Hand-in-Hand joint exercise, with focus mainly on counterterrorism joint training. The drills were successfully concluded in Shillong in Meghalaya, drawing a ‘full circle’ for the military engagements.