Senior defense officials from China and India pledged to enhance strategic mutual trust and boost pragmatic cooperation between their two countries to scale down simmering tensions along their common border at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

China and India share broad common interests on international and regional affairs, said Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission, at the recent 8th meeting of China-India Defense and Security Consultation.

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The annual dialogue was co-chaired by Sun and Indian Defense Secretary Shri G Mohan Kumar.

China's president Xi Jinping and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi have maintained frequent exchanges of visits and reached consensus on the development of bilateral ties in recent years, said Sun.

He said the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is willing to join hands with the Indian Army to maintain exchanges on border defense; improve the mechanism of communication and strengthen border management and control to safeguard peace and stability in their border areas.

Kumar said the exchanges of visits and interactions between Chinese and Indian leaders have promoted the India-China strategic partnership of cooperation, which has also contributed to the common prosperity of the two countries.

India is ready to take effective measures to boost communication and coordination between border guards with China, and properly manage and control disputes in order to ensure the border peace and tranquility.

The meeting follows some three months of heightened tensions along the LAC that has seen both India and China significantly strengthen their armed forces in the region.

Last July, India reinforced Indian Army units defending the LAC in the tense Ladakh region with more tanks, troops and armored fighting vehicles amid an ongoing Chinese military build-up.

The Indian Army deployed some 100 specially modified Russian-made T-72 main battle tanks along its mountainous frontline border in Ladakh, a key geostrategic region located along LAC in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

This is only the second time in half a century India has deployed tanks to this region, a signal of the unease China's unceasing military build-up over the past few years is causing in Delhi. The Chinese build-up focused on improving the logistics and infrastructure such as roads and bridges its troops will need for a war in this unimaginably difficult terrain.

The armored regiment to which the newly deployed troops and tanks belong will raise to a full brigade the Indian Army units in the region. Two infantry regiments are already in place.

These three regiments have taken-up positions in eastern Ladakh where temperatures can plummet to -45 degrees Celsius during winter.

TagsIndia, china, Line of Actual Control, Sun Jianguo, Shri G Mohan Kumar, People's Liberation Army, Indian Army, Ladakh region