Manohar Parrikar in China on five-day visit

At a time when India-China relations are under strain, with Beijing blocking India’s attempt in the UN to clamp a ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar, defence minister Manohar Parrikar will hold talks with top Chinese political and defence leaders during a five-day visit to that country. Mr Parrikar arrived in Shanghai on Saturday night.

Defence ministry sources said the focus of the visit, which comes days after India decided to sign a logistics support agreement with the US, will be to deepen military-to-military ties and focus on border issues. Mr Parrikar is the first Indian defence minister to visit China since 2013. He is expected to hold talks with top Chinese political and defence leaders. No agreements are expected during Mr Parrikar’s visit, they said.

Mr Parrikar’s trip follows high-level visits by top Chinese defence officials, including Central Military Commission (CMC) vice-chairman General Fan Changlong, to India last year. The CMC, headed by President Xi Jinping, is the highest commanding authority of the 2.3-million strong Peo-ple’s Liberation Army.

While the two sides had set up a dialogue mechanism under special representatives of to find a solution to the vexed boundary dispute, they also operationalised a Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination to address tensions arising out of aggressive patrolling of the disputed boundary.

So far, the special representatives have held 18 rounds of talks. The two sides have also opened more border points for regular interactions between their officers and men to build a friendly rapport.