India, China armies to hold jt military exercise next month

India and China will hold their fifth ‘Hand-in-Hand’ military exercise next month in the Chinese city of Kunming, the engagement coming on the heels of a recent face-off between their troops in Burtse in Ladakh.

Army sources said the exercise will be held from October 11 to 23 and India will be sending a detachment of soldiers from the Naga Regiment for taking part in the same.

The ‘Hand-in-Hand’ exercise is aimed at exploring useful experiences, advancing pragmatic cooperation and promoting a friendly environment between the two armies, the sources said. The first edition of the annual exercise was held in Kunming in <g data-gr-id="16">December,</g> 2007, following which India hosted a Chinese detachment as part of ‘Hand-in-Hand’ at Belgaum in <g data-gr-id="17">December,</g> 2008.

However, there was a gap of five years before a third edition of the exercise was held in China’s Chengdu area in 2013 in which a group of 160 personnel from Indian Army’s 16 Sikh Light Infantry had taken part.

The joint exercise which took place thereafter last year in Pune was to share the lessons learnt while tackling insurgency and terrorism so as to promote healthy military ties.