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China: military ties with India improving

SINGAPORE: A high-ranking Chinese defence official on Saturday affirmed that “the military-to-military relations between China and India have been moving towards a good direction.”

Beijing also appreciated New Delhi’s “cooperative spirit” in the political domain on the Tibet issue.

Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army Lieutenant General Ma Xiaotian told The Hindu here, on the sidelines of the seventh Asia Security Summit, that the two countries had already struck a “positive” note about their recent defence exercise.

Lt. Gen. Ma, who earlier outlined “the future of East Asian security” at the summit, being organised by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said: “In recent years, the mil-to-mil relations between China and India have been improving. The two defence chiefs have already exchanged visits, and senior leaders from the military forces also exchanged visits. Also, a good example is that last year we had a joint training exercise between the two Armies. I was then the head of the Chinese observation team, present during a large part of the exercise, and the deputy chief of the Indian Army also was there. We, both sides, gave a very positive comment on the recent development of the mil-to-mil defence relations between the two countries. It is our common, shared, aspiration to step up this type of interaction and engagement to improve our relations in the military field.”

On the politically sensitive “issue of Tibet,” he said: “We have received positive, active, support from the Indian Government, either it is about ‘the Tibetan exile government’s march movement’ or the Olympic torch relay.”

In an emphatic tone, Lt. Gen. Ma said: “We appreciate very much the cooperative spirit demonstrated by the Indian government. We hope that starting and proceeding from the overall interests of the bilateral relations between China and India, the Indian government could do more in restricting the violent activities of those Tibetan exiles or ‘independent forces’ in India.”

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