India and China to discuss steps for better border management - The Times of India
NEW DELHI: A top-level Chinese military delegation will be in India this week to discuss "practical measures" for management of border issues, including the creation of additional border personnel meeting (BPM) points and hotlines between field commanders, as well as conduct of joint exercises.
Led by People's Liberation Army's deputy chief of general staff (operations) Lieutenant General Qi Jianguo, the Chinese delegation will hold detailed talks with the Indian side headed by director general of military operations Lieutenant General P R Kumar on Tuesday.
The visiting delegation will also call on Army chief General Bikram Singh and defence minister A K Antony on Wednesday. Incidentally, the weeklong Indian Army commanders' conference also kicks off on Monday, which, among other issues, will discuss the strengthening of military capabilities and infrastructure along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.
Though India and China, last October, inked the new Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA), which lays down a more robust mechanism to defuse troop face-offs along the LAC, it's yet to be fully implemented and fine-tuned on the ground.
Troop "incursions and transgressions" across the LAC continue from both sides to strengthen claims on disputed patches. But the intent now is to promptly defuse the confrontations when they take place with both armies "exercising maximum self-restraint" and having "the right to seek clarifications from the other side". This has come in the backdrop of the 21-day face-off in April-May last year when PLA troops intruded 19km into Depsang valley in DBO sector of eastern Ladakh.
As part of the decision to boost military CBMs, the two countries have also decided to conduct "small platoon-level, tactical level" exercises between troops along the LAC, apart from holding the fourth bilateral "Hand-in-Hand" counterterrorism exercise at Barrackpore in West Bengal in October.
Similarly, Kibithu (Arunachal)-Damai and Lipulekh Pass (Uttarakhand)-Qiang BPM points are being discussed to add to the existing ones at at Chushul (Ladakh), Nathu La (Sikkim) and Bum La (Arunachal).
NEW DELHI: A top-level Chinese military delegation will be in India this week to discuss "practical measures" for management of border issues, including the creation of additional border personnel meeting (BPM) points and hotlines between field commanders, as well as conduct of joint exercises.
Led by People's Liberation Army's deputy chief of general staff (operations) Lieutenant General Qi Jianguo, the Chinese delegation will hold detailed talks with the Indian side headed by director general of military operations Lieutenant General P R Kumar on Tuesday.
The visiting delegation will also call on Army chief General Bikram Singh and defence minister A K Antony on Wednesday. Incidentally, the weeklong Indian Army commanders' conference also kicks off on Monday, which, among other issues, will discuss the strengthening of military capabilities and infrastructure along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.
Though India and China, last October, inked the new Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA), which lays down a more robust mechanism to defuse troop face-offs along the LAC, it's yet to be fully implemented and fine-tuned on the ground.
Troop "incursions and transgressions" across the LAC continue from both sides to strengthen claims on disputed patches. But the intent now is to promptly defuse the confrontations when they take place with both armies "exercising maximum self-restraint" and having "the right to seek clarifications from the other side". This has come in the backdrop of the 21-day face-off in April-May last year when PLA troops intruded 19km into Depsang valley in DBO sector of eastern Ladakh.
As part of the decision to boost military CBMs, the two countries have also decided to conduct "small platoon-level, tactical level" exercises between troops along the LAC, apart from holding the fourth bilateral "Hand-in-Hand" counterterrorism exercise at Barrackpore in West Bengal in October.
Similarly, Kibithu (Arunachal)-Damai and Lipulekh Pass (Uttarakhand)-Qiang BPM points are being discussed to add to the existing ones at at Chushul (Ladakh), Nathu La (Sikkim) and Bum La (Arunachal).
