China-India joint anti-terrorism training planned

BEIJING - China and India will launch joint anti-terrorism training between the two armies within 2013 in southwest China, a spokesman announced on Thursday.

The training, set in Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan Province, has been arranged in accordance with the two armies' annual military exchange plan, Ministry of National Defence spokesman Yang Yujun said at a news briefing.

The joint training is aimed at increasing mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation and preserving regional peace and stability, Yang said.

Experts from both sides have had two rounds of consultations on the date, assignment and scale of the forces to be involved in the training, he said. "The two defence ministries are keeping in touch on details of the training."

Yang also slammed comments at the briefing that attempted to provoke tensions between China and India, saying, "It is groundless and shows a lack of good will to use weapons equipment as a pretext to drive a wedge between China and India."

His remarks were in response to comments alleging India's first indigenously built aircraft carrier obviously targets China and ignites the fiercest arms race the world has ever seen in Asia.

"China and India are partners and close neighbors. Getting along well with each other and achieving co-development is in the fundamental interests of the two peoples," the spokesman said.