China Defence Minister Wei Fenghe arriving tomorrow to Delhi
New Delhi: Chinese Defence Minister and State councillor Wei Fenghe will arrive here on Tuesday on a four-day visit during which the two sides are expected to explore specific measures to build trust between their armies, guarding the nearly 3,500 km Sino-India border, official sources said.
They said the primary objective of Wei's visit is to deliberate with Indian defence establishment on implementation of decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in their informal summit in Wuhan in April.
In the summit, Modi and Xi resolved to open a new chapter in ties and directed their militaries to boost coordination along the border, months after the most serious military faceoff in decades between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in Doklam triggered fears of a war.
The sources said both sides will discuss implementation of decisions taken during the Wuhan summit which were aimed at improving mutual trust and avoid repeat of any Doklam-like face-offs.
Wei, who is a key member in China's State Council -- the executive organ of China's central government -- is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Modi and hold restricted as well as delegation-level talks with his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman, on Wednesday.
The Chinese defence minister is also likely to visit an Indian military establishment during his trip. In the delegation level talks, both sides are expected to deliberate on situation along the Doklam plateau and the Indian side may also raise the issue of presence of sizeable number of Chinese troops in North Doklam.
Doklam, in the Sikkim sector, is a strategically important area which is claimed by Bhutan. India has been acting as security guarantor to the tiny country in the sensitive region.
"A range of issues and options will be deliberated upon at the talks which will be in sync with what the leadership of the two countries had agreed to in the Wuhan summit," said a source in the military establishment here.