China, India hold war games

Nuclear-armed India and China agreed to hold the one-day exercise -- and seek a speedy end to a decades-old border dispute -- during a visit by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in June, the first by an Indian prime minister in a decade.

Ties between the world's two most populous nations, frosty since they fought a brief border war in 1962, have been warming in recent years.

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Zhang Minqiu, a professor of international relations at Peking University, said the exercise was a significant step in a long and deliberate process by China to balance its relations with India and traditional ally Pakistan.

"I think Pakistan should welcome this policy, India should welcome it. If China supports only one side, it makes relations between them more tense," she said.

Friday's naval exercise also marked "big progress for Sino-Indian ties" given the fact India first proposed similar exercises in the early 1990s, but China declined to engage, she added.

"It's an expression of the healthy relations between them."

The exercise, involving three Indian ships, was aimed at ensuring the safety of maritime trade and improving coordination in search-and-rescue at sea, the Indian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"India and China are the two most populous countries in the world," the Indian embassy said in a separate statement. "...Our capabilities are well known and provide the opportunity to share experiences and cooperation. Such cooperation will have a positive impact not only on the livelihood of our people, but also in the world at large."