Army Chief Bipin Rawat Says India And China Will Soon Have A Hotline To Resolve Transgression Issues

Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) General Bipin Rawat said that a hotline will be set up between the Indian and Chinese armies shortly, reports PTI.

Rawat said that both countries were very keen on having a hotline between the India's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) and the Chinese counterpart.

He said that a hotline will help resolve incidents such as transgressions along the border in a shorter time frame. “We are very keen to start the hotline. The Chinese are also very clear,” he said.

India currently has a hotline Pakistan through their DGMOs.

When asked about procuring Israel's Spike anti-tank missile using a government-to-government route, he indicated that the proposal was consideration.

In November, the Ministry of Defence decided to retract the process to acquire a batch of Spike missiles from Israeli manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defence Systems at a cost of $500 million. Subsequently, the ministry had asked the Defence Research Development ORganisation (DRDO) to develop similar missiles with indigenous technology.