China's Defense Minister arrives in India today for 4-day visit
China has said its relations with India are improving steadily in all areas, including the military sphere, as its Defense Minister Lt Gen Wei Fenghe is set to begin his four-day visit to New Delhi today, the first after the 73-day Doklam standoff last year. During the visit, Gen Wei would have in-depth exchanges with his counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman. Here are more details.
Second meeting between Gen Wei and Sitharaman
This will be the second meeting between Gen Wei and Sitharaman this year as the latter met him during her visit to Beijing in April to take part in Defense Ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
What is the aim of Gen Wei's visit to India?
Officials in Beijing said that Gen Wei's visit is aimed at improving communication between the two militaries at the highest level as well as the atmospherics which would send a positive signal to the troops on the ground along the 3,488km Line of Actual Control. The countries have opened several points for heads of the ground forces to meet periodically to improve relations.
About hotline facility between military headquarters of two countries
But so far both militaries have not been able to operationalize efforts to establish a hotline facility between their military headquarters due to procedural issues. The hotline between the two militaries 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.
Relations between PLA and Indian Army have generally recovered
Gen Wei's visit signals that relations between the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Indian Army have generally recovered, Qian Feng, a research fellow at the National Strategy Institute of Tsinghua University, told the Global Times recently. "The military relationship has entered a positive development track with overall improvement and a warming trend in political relations between the two countries," he said.
