Northern Army Commander on a rare visit to China's Xinjiang

Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh is on a rare visit to China's politically significant Xinjiang province, bordering Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, during which he will hold talks with top Chinese generals.

Lt Gen Singh's visit is the second-ever by a Northern Army commander to China, earlier being in 2015 by his predecessor Lt Gen B S Hooda.

The visits of the Northern Army Commanders to China are significant as one of its previous heads Lt Gen B S Jaswal was denied regular visa in 2010 on the ground that the Northern Command covered the "disputed" Jammu and Kashmir, which led to an angry reaction from India and disruption of ties between the two militaries.

The issue was resolved with Lt Gen Hooda's visit in 2015 leading to the normalisation of ties between the two militaries.

Lt Gen Singh in the last three days has visited Beijing and Chengdu. On Thursday, he reached Urumqi, the provincial capital of Xinjiang, which borders PoK.

He is due to interact with the top officials of .