India and China to hold joint military exercises

New Delhi, July 22: India and China will start the first round of military exercises this September, the first such joint manoeuvres ever.

Talking about the shift in relations between the two neighbours who had fought a bloody war in 1962, Defence Minister A K Anthony said now the ties are more economic and the change is evident in the decision to go in for joint military excerises.

The decision was made during the Army Chief General J.J. Singh's weeklong visit to China in May.

In April 2005, the two most populous countries signed an agreement to forge a ''strategic partnership.'' Mr Anthony was speaking after inagurating the Delhi Unit of Kerala Working Journalists Union (KWJU) here.

Mr Anthony said after the cold war era, when the world was polarised into communists and non-communists nation, today the strongest trade links existed between ideological rivals, United States and China.

UNI