India, China to set up anti-terror panel

Singh is the first Indian Home Minister to visit China in a decade.

The ministerial mechanism which would be followed by a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the security-related issues to be worked out, will become operational during Guo’s visit to India next year, Singh told the media in Beijing after his meetings with Li and Guo.

Singh said the two countries played an important role in the world and had witnessed progress in the development of the bilateral ties.

He called on both sides to strengthen exchanges on various levels, forge ahead with counterterrorism and drug-control cooperation, effectively address common challenges and maintain regional and worldwide peace and stability to create sound environment for bilateral cooperation. “It is a transnational and transborder threat which requires our joint response”, he said, adding that he discussed the same in talks with Mr Li. The decision comes soon after the recent terrorist attack in Paris and the killing of a Chinese national in Syria. Singh reiterated India’s strong opposition to terrorism in all its manifestation and agreed to enhance counter-terrorism cooperation including exchange of information.

The new mechanism will provide an institutional platform that will cover all issues that impact on the “internal security” of the two countries.

“We also agreed on expanded cooperation in training and capacity building of the security forces”, he said. Shri Rajnath Singh also met the Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Mr. Meng Jian Zhu in a series of meetings held in Beijing.

Reporting on Singh’s visit, state-run Global Times today said that India has asked China to share its strategy in dealing with “jihad activities” in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. “It has almost 10000 faculty members to teach security and policing”, he tweeted.