China, India sign MoU on defense cooperation

TOKYO, May 30 (KUNA) -- China and India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on their defense cooperation during Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit to China, official media reported here Tuesday.

The Chinese side holds that the signing of the MoU will be beneficial to the growth of Sino-Indian military relations and "will not target any third country," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao, according to Xinhua News Agency. The Indian defence minister, who arrived in Beijing on Sunday for his six-day visit to China, visited the Academy of Military Sciences of the People's Liberation Army. He received a briefing from top experts at the academy and took part in a discussion on military technology, it said. This is Mukherjee's first trip to China since the assumption of his post in 2004. Chinese Defense Minister Cao Ganchuan and Mukherjee held talks on Monday, pledging to deepen military exchanges between the armed forces of the two countries. China has pledged to step up strategic and cooperative relations with India in 2006, a year of friendship between China and India, said its Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing during a meeting with Mukherjee on Monday, it added. (end)