BEIJING – Aimed at increasing military cooperation, a high-level Indian Army team on Sunday concluded its visit to China , which included a first-ever trip by an Indian military delegation to the ‘roof of the world’ — Tibet .
Described by officials here as a continuation of the process of high-level military exchanges between India and China , the six-member delegation of senior Indian Army officers was led by Lt Gen Mohinder Singh, General Officer Commanding of the Tezpur-based 4 Corps.
The visit to Tibet was aimed at increasing the levels of confidence and transparency between the two armies. During the visit, which began on November 16, Singh met senior officials of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and discussed matters of mutual interest.
The delegation also interacted with the National Defence University here as well as visited some Chinese military facilities in Chengdu in southwest China . The visit highlights the commitment of the two countries for taking steps to increase mutual trust and understanding and enhancing mutually beneficial and broad-based cooperation, officials here said.
The visit came soon after Indian and Chinese navies conducted a successful search and rescue exercise off the coast of Shanghai in the East China Sea on November 14.
This was the first time that the two navies jointly undertook such an exercise which was aimed at ensuring the safety of maritime trade and improving coordination in search and rescue at sea. Official sources said the exercise would also be a stepping stone in enhancing inter-operability between the two navies.
“The joint search and rescue exercise between our two navies is cooperation between our two countries in the non-traditional security field. It will increase mutual trust and understanding between the two countries and will provide a fillip to the growing momentum in our bilateral relations,” Indian Ambassador to China Nalin Surie said in a recent interview to the leading English-language newspaper China Daily .
Surie noted that the joint search and rescue exercises conducted by the two navies were an important link in the chain of contacts and exchanges forged over the past few years in the ongoing process of building mutual trust and understanding between the two countries.
“We shall continue to build on the very useful foundations, which have been laid in recent years and intensify our interaction to jointly further our common interests,” he said.
Meanwhile, sources said that India has invited the Chinese navy to visit the country 2004 and conduct another joint exercise in the Indian Ocean . The invitation to the Chinese Navy was renewed during the navy-to-navy exchanges in Shanghai prior to the November 14 joint exercise, they said.
