Lankan Ranger
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Suspended defence ties in focus again between China & India
Thwarting attempts to delink the stapled visa issue from resumption of defence exchanges with China, India on Thursday said the two sides have agreed that a fresh ‘basis’ needs to be created to continue exchanges without constraints.
Sources said India has held on to its position on suspension of exchanges that was adopted after Northern Commander Lt Gen B S Jaswal was offered a stapled visa for a bilateral visit because he was from Jammu and Kashmir.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said PM Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao have agreed to address the break in high-level defence exchanges.
“(We) have agreed and understood we should endeavour to create a basis for defence exchanges to continue without constraints,” Rao said.
While defence exchanges have been suspended since September, a number of high-level visits are scheduled in coming months, including the annual Defence Secretary level talks and interaction between senior army officers that would lay the ground for a joint military exercise that was to take place in China in 2011.
However, the two nations have taken forward relations on the maritime front and have decided to cooperate in combating piracy in the Gulf of Aden. Both India and China have been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the region — a common area of concern from where a bulk of energy supplies for both nations passes.
In fact, the joint statement mentions that the two Navies would now work together in the Gulf of Aden. “The two sides reaffirmed the importance of maritime security, unhindered commerce and freedom of navigation... In this context, they agreed to work together in tackling piracy in the Gulf of Aden,” it read.
Suspended defence ties in focus again
Thwarting attempts to delink the stapled visa issue from resumption of defence exchanges with China, India on Thursday said the two sides have agreed that a fresh ‘basis’ needs to be created to continue exchanges without constraints.
Sources said India has held on to its position on suspension of exchanges that was adopted after Northern Commander Lt Gen B S Jaswal was offered a stapled visa for a bilateral visit because he was from Jammu and Kashmir.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said PM Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao have agreed to address the break in high-level defence exchanges.
“(We) have agreed and understood we should endeavour to create a basis for defence exchanges to continue without constraints,” Rao said.
While defence exchanges have been suspended since September, a number of high-level visits are scheduled in coming months, including the annual Defence Secretary level talks and interaction between senior army officers that would lay the ground for a joint military exercise that was to take place in China in 2011.
However, the two nations have taken forward relations on the maritime front and have decided to cooperate in combating piracy in the Gulf of Aden. Both India and China have been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the region — a common area of concern from where a bulk of energy supplies for both nations passes.
In fact, the joint statement mentions that the two Navies would now work together in the Gulf of Aden. “The two sides reaffirmed the importance of maritime security, unhindered commerce and freedom of navigation... In this context, they agreed to work together in tackling piracy in the Gulf of Aden,” it read.
Suspended defence ties in focus again
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