China and India have held their fourth annual Defense Dialogue talks in New Delhi, aimed at building confidence between the two countries' militaries.

The talks are the highest-level exchanges between the two countries in nearly two years. China's deputy chief of the People's Liberation Army General Staff, Ma Xiaotian met Indian Defense Secretary Shashikant Sharma behind closed doors.

Earlier reports said the two sides were considering holding joint military drills. The previous round of the defence dialogue was held in Beijing in January 2010 but a visa dispute halted military exchanges in July of that year. A long running border dispute has also prevented further miltiary cooperation between the two countries.