New Delhi: Amid diplomatic tensions that threaten to snowball into a major confrontation, the Indian and the Canadian armies Wednesday hoped that bilateral defence cooperation, which extends from the high seas to land warfare and training, will not be affected.
This comes as Canadian deputy army chief Major General Peter Scott is set to visit India next week to attend the Indo-Pacific Army Chiefs’ Conference (IPACC) scheduled from 25 to 27 September.
Col. Todd Braithwaite, the Canadian Defence Attaché at the High Commission, told ThePrint that he hoped the bilateral defence ties would not be impacted.
“My Deputy Chief of Army will be attending the conference and he is coming with his delegation. I am hoping that none of the recent developments will impact our bilateral defence ties,” he said at a curtain raiser for the event.
Asked further about the defence ties, the senior most Canadian military officer in India said that there is a lot of defence cooperation between the two countries in the field of blue water, training, land forces and technology.
“As I said, we intend to continue the partnership and hope that diplomatic relations will not impact the military ties,” he added.
His views were echoed by the Indian Army which said that there will be no impact on bilateral or multilateral defence ties between the two countries.
“The diplomatic situation which has evolved between India and Canada doesn’t impact us. The Canadian Chief and his delegation are coming in here,” Maj. Gen. Abhinaya Rai, Additional Director General, Strategic Planning at the Army Headquarters said.
Elaborating further, he said despite the stand-off with China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), both countries continue to engage with each other on the diplomatic and military levels.
“Like our relationships with some neighbours of ours, where we may have had a standoff but we continue to engage them with all levels, be it military and diplomatic level. And I am referring directly to China,” he said.
“Our diplomatic efforts as well as our military efforts with Canada will continue to be there and as part of the IPACC, they will form an important partner in the journey.”
The event was attended by defence attaches of multiple Indo-Pacific countries and one of the officers ThePrint spoke to said he hoped that the diplomatic confrontation between India and Canada was a “cat fight”.
“Have you ever seen a cat fight? When they begin, there is a lot of sound and action, but they then stop and go their way together. I am hoping this (diplomatic tension) is a cat fight only,” the officer said.
The ties between both countries hit rock bottom after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged the involvement of “agents of the Indian government” in the killing of a prominent Sikh separatist leader in Surrey, a claim rejected by New Delhi as “absurd” and “motivated”.
After Trudeau’s remarks in Parliament, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said she has ordered the expulsion of “a senior Indian diplomat”. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) then asked a Canadian diplomat to leave India within the next five days.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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