India-China joint mechanism on border issues soon: Antony

India will establish a joint mechanism with China in the next few months to resolve border issues while taking steps to modernise its military infrastructure in the face of Beijing "aggressively" shoring up its defence set up along the Line of Actual Control, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Tuesday.

"There was an incident (of incursion) like that few months back and we have conveyed our concerns to them.... Of late, we have taken a step to constitute a mechanism to tackle these issues in the border. I am hopeful that with this mechanism, which will come in few months, things will improve," the minister told mediapersons in New Delhi.

He was asked about India's response to incursions by Chinese troops in Ladakh a few months back at a press meet after the Coast Guard Commanders' Conference at its headquarters.

The decision to have a joint mechanism was taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Hu Jintao at Sanya in China in April.

The mechanism will explore areas of cooperation in border areas like border trade and movement.

The minister said the proposed mechanism will comprise of all stakeholders including the "military and paramilitary elements and will be coordinated by the external affairs ministry."

The army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police would be the part of this mechanism.

Asked about China strengthening its military set-up along the border, Antony said, "I agree with you on that China is aggressively building its capabilities in its areas. In the past, India was negligent in strengthening its capabilities in the eastern sector."

Instead of "grumbling" over the issue, India has started modernising it own capabilities by taking steps such as raising new army divisions and advanced landing grounds for aircraft operations, he said.

Pointing out that the overall situation along the border was "peaceful", he said that incursions were taking place on both sides due to differences in perception of boundary due to lack of proper demarcation.

"The main thing is that in absence of a demarcated border, there is a difference of perception. Sometimes incursions take place when they go to areas which they think is with them and sometimes we also do that," he said.

In reply to a query on objections raised by China over India's plans to explore oil and minerals in South China sea, Antony said, "As a policy, Indian believes in access for trade through all the seas. On this issue, our external affairs minister has already had had discussions with his counterpart in Vietnam."

Noting that India's relations with Hanoi were growing and agreements have been signed for oil exploration, the defence minister said, "South China Sea is not our worry. Our worry is to guard our own backyard and our core area is our neighbouring island nations."

"We are more concerned about areas around us and we are not the main players in the South China Sea," he said.