Army Exercise Between China and India

As the world’s two largest developing countries, both India and China have realised that their future lies in cooperation, in a shared system of global development, and a shared position as major powers on the international stage. Over the last decade, the Sino-Indian relationship has gone from strength to strength. Till 2019, this has taken on even greater importance with Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi declaring that he regards China as India’s closest friend and partner. The following article explains the Facts about Exercise Hand-in-Hand. It discusses the India-China Defence Cooperation, and the Hand-in-Hand Exercise between China and India.

India-China Defence Cooperation

The most important aspect of the Sino-Indian relationship is the relationship between India and China in terms of defence cooperation. India and China have a long history of defence cooperation. Close defence cooperation had remained a mainstay of military engagement between India and China since 1998, when the two sides signed an agreement on Defence Cooperation. The agreement facilitated joint defence production and research and joint military training. While then Indian Prime Minister Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee welcomed Chinese Premier Mr. Zhu Rongji to Delhi in 1998, the two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Joint Measures for Peaceful Coexistence and the Maintenance of Peace and Stability. Subsequently, India and China signed a framework agreement promoting bilateral military cooperation in 1999. In 2000, both sides signed an agreement on reciprocal visits to military units and establishments by senior officers, continuously renewed since then. In 2003, the Indian and Chinese armies began joint military exercises. They were known as the Hand-in-Hand series of exercises. In 2007, both sides decided to expand the scope of the joint military exercises to include artillery, armored, and air force units. The exercise was also renamed “Hand in Hand.”

Because of its significance and growing scale, the Chinese side decided in 2010 to elevate it from an annual event to a regular six-monthly exercise, with a clear focus on counter-terrorism operations. Given the growing importance of India in China’s foreign policy and India’s participation in peacekeeping operations in Africa, both countries agreed to hold the third edition of the joint Exercise Hand-in-Hand in 2012. Subsequently, both sides decided to increase its frequency from once a year to twice every year. The fourth edition was held in China from September 2014 to October 2014, and the fifth edition was held from January 19 – to March 1, 2016.

Facts About Exercise Hand-in-Hand between China and India

India and China conduct the “Hand-in-Hand” exercise on a six-month cycle. The first Hand in Hand exercise was held in 2007, in which both sides focused on the counter-terrorism scenario. The exercise aims to enhance interoperability between the two countries’ armies, share combat experiences, promote friendship, and build understanding between the Chinese and Indian Armies. The Exercise also allows the Chinese and Indian armies to tackle possible security challenges in new circumstances and share their battle experiences.

Facts About Exercise Hand-in-Hand: The Main Objectives

To enhance mutual military cooperation and personnel exchanges between the Indian and Chinese Armies, To achieve optimal combat capabilities by combining the two armies’ strengths, To carry out coordinated action through joint operations, To provide opportunities for forming friendship and trust between the two armies. To provide opportunities to explore ways of realizing concrete objectives through joint action.

To reinforce the military ties between India and China, the two countries have been conducting annual joint exercises to build up their combined war-fighting capabilities. During these exercises, both armies can carry out large-scale unit maneuvers and train together on counter-terrorism operations. In these operations, the two armies can test their battle readiness, especially unit deployment and coordination under combat conditions. The training includes both artillery and armored units. The joint exercises also provide an opportunity for the armies to test weapons and techniques.

Facts About Exercise Hand-in-Hand: Participation of India

Apart from the top army commanders, senior civilian government officials, diplomats, and delegations of other countries are invited to the Hand-in-Hand event. In addition, significant media coverage is given by several news agencies like Xinhua News agency and CCTV. Participation by other countries is also a part of this exercise. For example, the Vietnamese Army also participated in the “Hand in Hand” Exercise.

Hand-in-Hand-2019

The Eighth edition of Hand-in-Hand Exercise was held at Umroi, Meghalaya, from 7 to 20 December 2019. In the previous seven editions, this exercise has been conducted only twice in China and the rest in India. This edition of the eight Hand-in-Hand Exercises is being addressed as a significant event in the Sino-Indian relationship. Given India’s importance in Chinese foreign policy, especially after Mr. Modi visited China in 2015, it would be interesting to see how this edition steps up the relationship between them.

Conclusion

The Chinese and Indian armies say they would like to see their collaboration expand beyond the military sphere. Increased interaction between the two countries’ militaries could help ease tensions on contested Himalayan borders, they added. In addition, the article mentions that in order to reduce any misunderstanding arising from patrolling of troops near the disputed border, both sides have increased frequent meetings between local commanders. All the Facts about Exercise Hand-in-Hand also indicate that this is a positive step toward de-escalating tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and India-China Defence Cooperation.