India and China will soon have a hotline between the Director General Military Operations (DGMO) of the two armies to address issues relating to transgressions on the contentious 3,448-km-long line of Actual Control (lAC). It was one of the confidence building measures mutually agreed upon by the two nations some time back.
Giving this information on Thursday after his four-day visit to Beijing ending on Wednesday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the hotline will be a “reality soon.”
Interacting with the mediapersons on the sidelines of the Naval Commanders’ Conference, the Minister said the issue of China using veto to block India’s efforts to get Masood Azhar a terrorist tag also figured during his talks with the Chinese leadership. He said China was told “clearly” that there cannot be any differentiation among terrorists as all are the same.
Elaborating on the pending hotline proposal, he said the draft of the agreement was exchanged between the delegations of two countries and China said it will respond soon. Reports from Beijing said China reacted positively to the hotline proposal.
It will enable the DGMOs of the two countries to talk to each other on regular basis on issues like transgression incidents on the lAC. India and Pakistan have a hotline for the last many years and DGMOs of two armies talk to each other every week. If need be the frequency of talks are increased like in the case when ceasefire violations on the International Border and line of Control (lOC) went up two years back.
As regards the border personnel meeting points along the lAC, the two countries have at present five mutually agreed points where formation commanders of two armies discuss local issues and the minister said the two countries were in favour of having more such points.
On his talks with the Chinese leadership, Parrikar termed the parleys as “frank and positive.” The two sides discussed the renewal of the existing Memorandum of Understanding on Defence signed in 2006.
He said “better communication” was the need of the hour on the issue of lAC, adding, “We agreed to increase our interactions and better management of borders.”
He said the “best solution” for border disputes was to finalise the lAC as different perceptions of the border leads to what is perceived as transgression. “Because of different perceptions, technical transgression happens. We feel it is traversing, but they (Chinese troops) are just patrolling. They come and go,” he said. The Minister said that such incidents have come down.
Replying a question, he said the Chinese side raised the issue of India and US agreeing to ink the logistics Support Agreement (lSA) and said “we have clarified that India takes autonomous decisions based on its own strategic and security needs.”
Asked about the pending Rafale fighter jet deal amidst reports that the two countries had agreed to a price of Rs60,000 crore for 36 jets, he said the negotiations were in advanced stage and “we intend to close it very soon. We cannot say the deal is done till it is signed or sent to the Cabinet for approval.”