China and India agree to install PM hotline to ease tensions

A new dedicated hotline between the leaders of India and China will become operational in 30 days, an Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday.

The special hotline, described as a confidence-building measure, was finalised at a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation meeting at Yekaterinburg in Russia this week. 'The new phone link is designed for timely communication on significant issues,' said an Indian diplomat.

'It will enable Mr Singh and Wen Jiabao to conduct direct conversations mainly during crises.

'Either premier can pick up the phone if tension is running high and ask his counterpart what is going on and what they should do to defuse it. It is not always easy to get to the man in charge in a hurry. For instance, in September 2008, Mr Singh tried to contact Mr Wen to get the Nuclear Suppliers Group's approval for the India-US nuclear deal but his phone calls went unanswered.'

Analysts welcomed the hotline amid fresh strains in Sino-Indian ties over New Delhi's move to bolster its defences on the unsettled China border, deploying up to 50,000 troops and its new Su-30 fighter aircraft at an air base near Arunachal Pradesh that Beijing claims as its territory.