Ahead of annual Defence Dialogue, China has expressed its willingness to work with India to link its ambitious Maritime Silk Road plans with India’s ‘Mausam’ project in a bid to address New Delhi’s strategic concerns and derive common benefits.Defence Secretary R K Mathur will lead the Indian defence delegation at the talks due to be held in Beijing on April 8 and 9 during which the two countries would discuss a wide range of measures to step up cooperation between army, navy and airforce of the two countries.
Significantly, ahead of the key meeting Chinese Foreign Ministry said China looks forward to stepping up interaction with India to identify the meeting point for their strategic interests in South Asia, especially the Indian Ocean region.
During last year’s Defence Dialogue, the two sides discussed prospects of joint naval exercises in addition to the ‘Hand in Hand’ exercises being held annually between the two armies to promote military-to-military relations.
Last month, a high-level Air Force delegation from India visited Beijing for the first high-level interaction.