JOIN USNearly eight months after the Doklam crisis, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be travelling to China to further the bilateral relations between the two neighbouring countries that fought a battle more than 50 years ago.
"Yes, (the China visit) it is probably sometime in late April," Sitharaman told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar here. She, however, did not elaborate on the meeting's agenda.
Her predecessor Manohar Parrikar was the last Indian defence minister to travel to the communist country in March 2016.
But the Doklam crisis came in between the two ministerial visits as the border guarding troops from two sides had a 72-day face-off at Doklam a disputed site near India-China-Bhutan tri-junction between June and August, last year.
The bone of contention was the construction of a road, which would have robbed India off some of the strategic advantages that the Indian Army enjoys at the moment in that area.
While the crisis was resolved through diplomatic efforts, China continues to hold its ground and build the infrastructure at Doklam.
"People Liberation Army has undertaken construction of some infrastructure, including sentry posts, trenches and Helipads," Nirmala informed the Parliament last week.
Post-disengagement from the faceoff, troops of both sides redeployed themselves away from their respective positions at the face-off site at the Doklam, she told the lawmakers. The strengths of both sides have been reduced.