Govt monitoring China arms sales to Pak; says border peaceful

New Delhi, Dec 30 (PTI) The Indian government is
"closely" monitoring the sale of arms to Pakistan by China,
Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said Wednesday.

Along with the statement, also came the assurance that
there was peace and tranquillity at India China border.

"All these developments are closely monitored by the
External Affairs Ministry, by the Defence Ministry and various
other ministries and the Prime Minister. So, let us not get
into yet another speculative area," he said.
He was replying to a query on China selling arms to
Pakistan and if this would lead to an arms race in the region.
China had recently sought to defend its sale of
submarines and warships to Pakistan, contending that even
India was seeking military equipment from US and Russia.
Maintaining that India desires to maintain peace and
tranquillity along the Sino-India border, Krishna said "I have
said and I would like to repeat again in the dying days of
2009 that India China border is peaceful, they are tranquil.
"It is India's desire to maintain peace and tranquillity
at our borders and we will continue to do that".
Chief of Pakistan's naval staff Noman Bashir, who was on
a visit to China recently had talks with Chinese officials for
the purchase of more JF-17 fighter planes and bigger ships
than the F22P frigates, currently ordered by Pakistan.
Since 2005, Pakistan has ordered eight F22P frigates from
China. "The F22P frigate is about 3,000 tons, and now we are
talking about 4,000-ton ships," Bashir had said. PTI SAP
RDM


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