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India Air Force Head to Lead Goodwill Trip to China
Indian Air Force chief Anil Y. Tipnis starts a trip to China at the weekend, the highest-ranking military visit since ties were strained by New Delhi's nuclear tests three years ago.
An air force spokesman told reporters on Monday Tipnis would be on a goodwill mission to China as part of ongoing dialogue between the armed forces of the two Asian giants, which went to war in 1962.
Tipnis will spend a week in China with a delegation of air force officials beginning May 19.
India said regional threat perceptions had prompted its surprise underground nuclear explosions in May 1998, triggering protest from China.
Since then, the world's two most populous nations have worked to heal ties through a series of confidence-building visits. including a dialogue on nuclear proliferation.
"Essentially the aim of the military visits is to keep the India-China relationship stable, despite the many differences and unresolved problems," said Sujit Dutta, a China specialist at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi.
India and China have made slow progress in resolving a 40-year-old border dispute that is considered central to relations.
Diplomats and military officials of the countries have had several rounds of talks in recent years to determine where precisely the 4,500-km (2,800-mile) Himalayan border lies.
"There seems to be a general agreement to maintain stability...these visits underline the resolve to avoid misunderstanding, avoid a conflict or crisis from emerging," said Dutta.
The military visit takes places just as Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji is on a tour that includes long-time ally Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and continues to Thailand.
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