India-China border stable, forces of 2 countries in close communication: China defence minister
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In 2017, the Doklam crisis saw over a two-month-long standoff between Indian and Chinese forces after Bejing tried to build a road on Bhutanese territory.
Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe said that India-China border is stable and forces of both the countries are in close communication with each other.
"Both sides have close communication with each other and the border area is generally stable. The common interest of China and India far outway our differences," Fenghe said while addressing Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
On the resolution of the boundary dispute, he said, "The Chinese side is ready to work with India to properly handle the boundary question. At the moment management of the boundary, question is sound."
In 2017, the Doklam crisis saw over a two-month-long standoff between Indian and Chinese forces after Bejing tried to build a road on Bhutanese territory.
Calling the relationship between the two countries "sound", General Fenghe recalled the informal Wuhan summit between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China President Xi Jinping and said both the leaders provided "guidance for the relationship and the comprehensive strategic partnership has enjoyed sound growth and our consensus is that two militaries need to work together to contribute to the overall relationship between China and India."
Chinese President Xi and PM Modi met four times in 2018 starting with Wuhan informal summit followed by meetings on the sidelines of Shanghai cooperation organisation (SCO), BRICS & G20 Summit. Xi will be visiting India this year for the second Informal Summit.
Wei Fenghe had visited India last year and met officials including the then defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Fenghe was quite optimistic about the ties and said, "Both sides committed for a cooperative and stable relationship between the two sides. The momentum of a relationship, it is getting better and better and we are making active efforts to further grow this bilateral relationship."
India and China held a Joint Exercise “Hand-in-Hand” in Pujiang, China from 10 to 23 December 2018 in which 130 personnel from each side participated.
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