India-China exercises soon

By Sridhar Kumaraswami

New Delhi

June 6: Even as external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee is on his second official visit to China in two years, discussions between the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army of China are in its final stages to decide the nature and location of the joint-Sino-Indian military exercise expected to take place in September this year in India.

"The discussions between the two sides are in its final stages. The nature of the exercise and the location in India are expected to be decided by Tuesday," Indian Army sources said. "The location will depend on the nature of the exercise; for instance, whether it will be a desert exercise or a mountainous exercise," sources added.

This will be the second such joint-exercise between the two countries. The first Sino-Indian joint-military exercise was held in China in December last year near the city of Kunming. Indian Army sources said that the joint-exercise with the Chinese is very much on track despite recent reports of tension on the Sikkim border. India is also modernising airfields in the border state of Arunachal Pradesh, large parts of which China claims as its own.

In fact, Mr Mukherjee’s last official visit to China as defence minister two years ago was a huge success. A historic MoU was then signed between India and China during his visit in May, 2006. The MoU had stipulated that India and China would hold joint-military exercises, join forces in counter-terrorism and anti-piracy efforts and also co-operate in search and rescue operations.

An annual defence dialogue, hosted alternatively by the two countries to review progress in defence exchanges, make suggestions for the future and to exchange views on international, security and strategic issues was also part of the MoU.

The MoU was meant to be a major confidence building measure (CBM) between the two countries.