India,China Defence Ministers to hold talks tomorrow

Gen Liang’s visit takes place at a time when the two Asian giants are competing vigourously to gain a foothold across the continent for resources. He arrived in Mumbai yesterday on a five-day visit to the country.

He is scheduled to hold wide-ranging discussions with Antony on issues relating to border and bolstering military-to-miltary cooperation.

“We are planning to resume the army-to-army exercise ‘Hand-in-Hand’ from next year and a final decision in this regard is expected to be taken at the meeting between Gen Liang and his Indian counterpart,” a senior Indian Defence Ministry official said.

After his meeting with Antony,the Chinese Defence Minister will hold a meeting with the Chairman,Chiefs of Staffs Committee Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne at the South Block before calling on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Military exercises between the two countries had started in 2007 but were put on hold in 2010 after a series of hiccups in the defence ties between the two sides.

The first exercise was held in Kunming,China in 2007 and the second in Belgaum in India in 2008. The third edition was to have been held in China in 2010 but has since remained stalled.

After the denial of visa to the then Northern Army Commander Lt Gen B S Jaswal by the Chinese in 2010,New Delhi froze all bilateral defence exchanges with Beijing.

Though the defence exchanges have restarted,there were still some issues like China declining to give visa to an IAF officer belonging to Arunachal Pradesh.

China considers Arunachal Pradesh as part of his territory and calls its as ‘South Tibet’,a claim rejected by India,which says the state is its integral part.

The two sides also have a long-pending boundary problem along the over 4,000 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The Special Representatives of the two countries have held 15 rounds of talks on the issue but not much progress has been made in this regard.

Gen Liang’s visit will be the first by a Chinese Defence Minister to India since Gen Cao Gangchuan’s trip here in March,2004. A Defence Minister-level visit to China from India had last taken place in May,2006.

He will also visit Taj Mahal in Agra and Qutub Minar here.

Major defence deals may get hit due to shortage of funds

Faced with a resource crunch,the Defence Ministry will undertake a review next month of major military projects such as plans for acquiring 126 combat aircraft and raising a Strike Corps in the northeastern sector.

The review will be carried out after an assessment is made on the performance of the economy at the end of the second quarter of this fiscal,Government sources said.

The Defence Ministry has been allocated Rs 1.93 lakh crore for the current fiscal but it had made a demand for additional funds of more than Rs 40,000 crore for meeting its capital requirements.

Sources said the lack of funds may also affect the Army’s plans to raise a Mountain Strike Corps alongwith China under a Rs 64,000 crore project.

The plan has already hit a roadblock due to objections raised by the Government over the accretion along the boundary with China.

The Defence Ministry has undertaken a major defence modernisation project under which it is planning to spend USD 100 billion on procurements for armed forces in the next five to ten years.

Recently,Defence Minister A K Antony also reviewed the expenditure made by the armed forces in a meeting with the three Services Vice Chiefs,they said.

During the meeting,the Defence Minister was apprised about the progress made by the defence forces in their respective procurements plans.

Sources said the shortage of resources may also affect the Army’s plans to raise a Mountain Strike Corps along with China under a proposed Rs 64,000 crore project.

The plan has already hit a roadblock due to objections raised by the Government over the accretion of forces along the Chinese boundary.

In recent times,the services have also been asked to priortise their procurements and avoid duplication in acquisitions.

The major Indian defence procurement programmes include the multi-billion dollar deal for procuring 126 multirole combat aircraft,over USD 2 billion deal for procuring six mid-air refuelling tankers,six additional C-130J Super Hercules aircraft from the US.

In recent times,the Defence Ministry has cleared several proposals expected to be worth over Rs 40,000 crore at the meetings of the Defence Acquistion Council (DAC).