Kumar, who retires as the defence secretary on Wednesday, said both sides are working on the dates so that the dialogue could be held in the calendar year. However, the bilateral army exercise – hand-in-hand – has to wait for some time.
Kumar will take over as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner on Thursday.
The Sino-Indian defence links are being revived after almost an year. The tie was snapped when India suspended military exchanges with China in the wake of Beijing’s refusal to grant permission to then chief of the northern army command for an official trip to China.
Beijing argued that it would not be in a position to welcome Lt Gen BS Jaswal because he was serving in J&K, which China considers a “sensitive area”. Interestingly, Jaswal in the past, visited China as the commander of Tezpur-based 4 Corps that looks after Arunachal Pradesh – considered disputed territory by China.
Published 13 July 2011, 19:26 IST