India Army team to travel to China by December-end

New Delhi: India is due to despatch an army delegation to China sometime before the end of the month soon after the annual defence dialogue (ADD) between the two countries concludes on 9 December. The move is aimed at improving bilateral ties.

"Both sides will undertake a further round of delegation exchanges before December-end," the defence ministry said in a release here.  The delegation will travel after India and China hold the fourth round of their ADD.

"The dialogue will be chaired by defence secretary Shashikant Sharma and the deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese PLA, Gen Ma Xiaotian will lead the Chinese side there," the ministry said.

This will be the third such exchange of visits between the two countries this year.

After a freeze over visa row, India had sent a multi-command delegation under Maj Gen Gurmeet Singh in June this year after which a delegation from the Chinese Army visited here in November.

During the ADD, both sides will exchange perspectives on regional and global security issues and also review the ongoing confidence building measures (CBMs) on the borders.

The two sides will discuss their military exchange programmes for the next year including the resumption of joint army exercises.