New Delhi: India and China will hold their
Annual Defence Dialogue (ADD) here starting December 9 during
which they will discuss resumption of joint Army exercises and
border issues between the two sides.
"The ADD will be held here in Delhi where the two sides
will take a final decision on resuming the Army exercise,"
Defence Ministry officials said here.
They said earlier the plan was to hold the talks in
January next year but then it was decided jointly to hold it
in December.
At the talks, the Indian side will be led by Defence
Secretary Shashikant Sharma whereas the Chinese delegation
will be headed by a senior People`s Liberation Army official.
The last round of Sino-Indian defence dialogue had taken
place in Beijing in January 2010.
Various issues such as the situation along the Sino-Indian
border and resumption of exercise between the armies of the
two sides will be discussed during the meeting, they said.
New Delhi had suspended military exchanges with China in
August 2010 after it refused to grant permission to a senior
Indian Army Commander to proceed on an official trip to
Beijing.
As immediate fallout of the event, India refused to hold
the third round of exercise with China and had put all other
military exchanges on hold.
The first two editions of the Army to Army exercise had
taken place in Kunming in China in 2007 and in Belgaum in
2008.
Putting an end to the strained military relations, India
had sent its first military delegation to Beijing in June this
year.
China also reciprocated by sending its military
delegations under a Lieutenant General earlier this month.
The delegation visited important defence installations in
Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai and held talks with their Indian
counterparts including Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Bikramjit
Singh.
Meanwhile, India and China will also hold the special
envoy level talks on the issue of border management here,
before the end of this year.
National Security Advisor Shivsankar Menon will be
leading the Indian delegation during these talks.
PTI
