First India-China Army exercise in Oct

Interestingly, military planners are also considering the “general area” near Aksai Chin for the training operations given the similarity of terrain with the Army’s operations in J-K and the People Liberation Army’s anti- terror deployment in the troubled Xinjiang province.

The Army is currently preparing a company-level force of troops experienced in anti-terror operations in J-K and the Northeast for the exercise.

The two countries had signed a Memorandum of Understanding last year that specified the desire to conduct joint military exercises in the fields of “search and rescue, anti-piracy, counter-terrorism and other areas of mutual interest”.

The first training exercise was firmed up during Army Chief General J J Singh’s visit to China in May this year.

Senior PLA officer General Chen Bingde, who heads the General Armaments Department of PLA as well as its secretive space programme, will discuss finer points of the upcoming exercise with JJ Singh during his Delhi visit next week.

While the interaction between the armies of the two nations till now was limited to observer status in each other’s exercises, several low-level bilateral naval exercises have been taking place since 2003.

In April, an advanced five-day exercise involving two frontline destroyers of the Indian Navy was conducted at the Qingdao port, which is the headquarters of the Chinese Navy’s North Sea fleet. India is also considering exchange of military personnel with China for training purposes. China has expressed interest in participating in courses at premier Indian defence institutes, including the Defence Services Staff College and National Defence College.

China holds regular large scale anti-terrorism exercises with Pakistan in Xinjiang.