Indian Army Chief takes note of China's military modernisation

News Source: Ittefaq.com

India needs to be wary of a rapidly modernising Chinese military as it could affect the country's security in the long run, India's army chief said on Thursday.

The world's two most populous nations are forging new ties amid soaring trade and business links, though serious differences over their Himalayan border, the cause of a 1962 war, fester.

India has also been pursuing closer relations with the United States, something that worries China.

"We need to take note of likely implications of China's military modernisation, improvement of infrastructure in the Tibet Autonomous Region, which could impact our security in the long-term," General Deepak Kapoor said in New Delhi.

Although India and China have signed a treaty to maintain "peace and tranquility" along the disputed frontier and agreed to find a political solution to the row, talks over a 3,500-km disputed frontier have hardly made progress.

Kapoor said growing trade ties augured well for both countries and there was peace along the border.

"Our mutual economic engagements and continued efforts to amicably resolved this boundary issue have ensured peace along the border," he said.

Another report adds: The Indian Army's involvement in the country's internal security is more than normal, army chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor said here Thursday.

Notwithstanding its multi-front obligations, the Indian Army is being called in to tackle many issues ranging from law and order to providing aid during natural or man-made disasters.

"Due to external abetment, the Indian Army is involved in internal security functions on a relatively larger scale than is normal," said Kapoor.

Kapoor was delivering a lecture on 'Changing global Security Environment with specific reference to our region and its impact on the Indian Army' at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis here.

"The primary obligation of the army is to defend the borders of the country and internal security is the secondary duty," Kapoor added.

The internal engagements of the Indian Army include training police and paramilitary forces to combat the menace of Maoist insurgency.

Currently, the army is proving to be instrumental in strengthening police and paramilitary forces like Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and reserve police battalions in various states.

"The army has been providing advice and training in counter-Naxal (Maoist) operations and counter-IED (Improvised Explosive Device) operations.

We are rendering assistance in the establishment of counter-terrorism schools in the analysis of violent incidents to help the police and the paramilitary forces to formulate an operational framework," Kapoor said.

The army has trained 150 companies of police and paramilitary forces till June this year.