India, China mull hotlines between Army Commanders

Aiming to avoid any misunderstanding on their borders, India and China are planning to set up hotlines between army commanders in-charge of their respective border areas along Jammu and Kashmir and Northeastern states in the next three to four months.

Under the proposal, there will be direct hot line between Indian Army's Udhampur-based Northern Commander and his counterpart in Lanzhou Military Region and the Kolkata-based Eastern Army Commander will have the same facility with the Chinese military region commander in Chengdu, sources said here.

They said if the proposal, first mooted at the Annual Defence Dialogue betwen the two sides last year, is cleared by the Government, the hotlines would be set up within next three to four months.

A similar hot line is being worked out between the Navies of the two countries to avoid any stand-offs in the high seas while patrolling international waters.

The proposal to set up a hot line comes soon after the troops of the two countries came face to face in July near Chushul in Ladakh while patrolling a disputed area and disengaged only after laying claims on it through the banner drill.

More than 400 transgressions by the Chinese troops have been reported in Indian territory in the last few years.

India and China have a long-pending border dispute over and China over which they have held 15 round of talks between the Special Representatives of the two countries.

At present, India has such an arrangement with Pakistan where the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMO) get in touch with each other in case of tensions at the LoC or the international border.

The arrangement worked well recently when an Indian Army helicopter by mistake went inside Pakistan but was allowed to return safely after the two DGMOs talked.