BUMLA (TAWANG): The first ever Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) at the Major General level between Indian Army and Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was organised by the Indian Army at Bumla near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh was held on Friday.
Located at altitude of 15,000 ft and situated 42 km North of Tawang town, Bumla is one of the five designated BPM venues, between two of the world’s largest armies. The delegations were led by Major General PGK Menon as Delegation leader and Brig Zubin Bhatnagar as Deputy Delegation leader from Indian side and Major General Li Xi Zhong from Chinese side.
The meeting included the hoisting of national flags followed by interaction which took place in cordial atmosphere wherein both sides reaffirmed their resolve to strengthen friendship, maintain peace and tranquility along the LAC. The interactions reflected mutual desire for improving relations at functional level on the border and emphasised to improve relations at ground level along the LAC. The meeting was the first one to be conducted at Major General level between two Asian giants since inception of BPMs at Bumla since 1990.
Both the delegation leaders expressed satisfaction over the growing mutual trust and harmony between the two countries and were sanguine that the Indo-China relationship would grow stronger in future at all the levels. This meeting at Bumla was yet another milestone in the ongoing effort by both the nations to increase interactions at all levels of diplomatic as well as military channels.