New Delhi, August 20: To counter Chinese aggression, Indian and Japan have decided to expand their defence ties. Both the countries have decided to hold more bilateral combat exercises and also showed commitment to collaborate in maritime security and defence production. India and Japan will also hold their first-ever joint Army exercise towards the end of this year with the main to counter terrorism.

Both the countries will also step up the level of on-going naval exercises to develop anti-submarine warfare and mine counter-measures. The decision was taken at the annual defence ministerial dialogue held between delegations of the two countries in New Delhi on Monday. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman led the Indian delegation while her counterpart Itsunori Onodera led the Japanese delegation.

Sitharaman will visit Japan next year, while Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) chief of staff will come to India this November. The Indian Air Force chief is also likely to visit the far east nation in December with a focus to strengthen coordination between the two air forces. Onodera also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. The Prime Minister welcomed the efforts to strengthen defence dialogue mechanisms as well as the ties between the armed forces of the two countries.

Meanwhile, Chinese Defence Minister Lieutenant General Wei Fenghe is set to begin his four-day visit from August 21. It will be the first of the Chinese defence minister to New Delhi visit after the Doklam standoff. General Fenghe will meet Sitharaman during the visit. It will be their second meeting this year as the Indian defence minister met him during her visit to Beijing in April to take part in the defence ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 20, 2018 09:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).