Officials from the Indian Army and Tezpur University during the signing of the MoU. (Photo: Defence PRO, Tezpur)
Tezpur: The Indian Army and the Tezpur University signed a memorandum of understanding for training Army personnel in Chinese language, on Wednesday. According to the agreement, the course will be for a duration of four months, which will be conducted by the Tezpur University.
This is seen as an important move as Indian and Chinese are increasingly crossing each other’s paths along the disputed northern borders between the two countries. There have been several confrontations between Indian Army soldiers with soldiers of China’s People’s Liberation Army in the past few years.
The Indian and the Chinese armies are currently in a high-tension stand-off at several “friction” points along the line of actual control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
Indian troops in Ladakh displaying a banner written in English and Chinese warning PLA troops that they have transgressed into Indian territory. (File screenshot of video)
The Army said the Chinese language course will improve the in-house Mandarin expertise and empower its personnel to engage with the Chinese soldiers as and when the situation demands. It hopes that with improved Chinese language skills, Indian soldiers will be better empowered to convey their points in a much more cogent manner. It will also help in better exchange of viewpoints and understanding of the Chinese PLA’s version of their activities during various interactions such as commander-level talks, flag meetings, joint exercises, border personnel meetings, etc.
On behalf of the Army, the Tezpur-headquartered IV Corps (Gajraj Corps) signed the MoU with the registrar of the Tezpur University, in the presence of the university’s vice-chancellor, Prof SN Singh.
Established in 1994, the Tezpur University is a central university and one the pioneers in the northeast in teaching of foreign languages, including Chinese with highly qualified faculty.
