Indian defense chief meets with senior PLA official

Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony Monday met with visiting Deputy Chief of General Staff of the People's Liberation Army of China Wang Guanzhong, who was for holding the 6th round of meeting of Defense and Security Consultation between China and India.

Antony highly evaluated the results of the just concluded meeting and said that the Indian government and armed forces are committed to maintaining peace and tranquillity along the border areas of the two countries and implementing relevant agreements in the field.

He said there exist opportunities for the two countries and their armed forces to develop good relations and India is willing to enlarge the fields of dialogue and exchanges with China and push forward the relationship with China to contribute to regional peace and stability.

The Indian defense minister also said India and China, while having a long tradition of friendship and exchanges, are experiencing a stable development of relationship now.

He said India is glad to see the development of China and looks forward to sharing common development with China.

Wang said China and India are two important neighbors, big countries and emerging economies and it is good for the common development of the two countries as well as international and regional peace and stability that they maintain peace and tranquillity of the border areas and keep a healthy and stable relationship between their armed forces.

He said China is willing to strengthen dialogue and consultation between the institutions of defense affairs and the military of the two countries and seriously implement the spirit of bilateral agreements and work out the consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries.

Wang said that China is ready to deepen pragmatic cooperation in all fields with India, properly handle the existing differences between the two countries, and push forward relations between the armed forces of the two countries to a new stage.

Wang also met with the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Indian Armed Forces and Indian Army Chief General Bikram Singh and co-chaired with Indian Defense Secretary R.K. Mathur the 6th round of meeting of Defense and Security Consultation between China and India.

The two sides made in-depth exchanges of views on relations between the two countries and their armed forces, the exchanges and cooperation between the two armed forces and regional security situation among other topics of mutual interest.