Joint anti-terrorism exercise by Indian and Chinese armies

A contingent of one hundred seventy five troops from 2nd Battalion of Naga Regiment from Eastern Command reached Kunming by IAF IL-seventy six plane yesterday to participate within the exercise.

Terming the past standoffs at the India-China border as “accidental confrontations”, an article in a state-run Chinese daily today blamed the western media for unfairly targeting their joint military exercise by focussing on the border tensions. He said that the exercise would expand the scope of military interaction, facilitate exchange of best practices in counter terrorism operations, enhance mutual understanding and trust and further promote friendly relationship between both militaries.

The units involved on both sides consist of infantry and headquarter elements. The twelve day exercise lays emphasis on joint handling of counter terrorism and “Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief”.

An opinion piece in the Global Times assured that “there is no need to be astonished over the joint drill, for the idea of peaceful coexistence has already been deeply rooted among people from both China and India”.

“India and China have agreed that peace and tranquility in the border areas is an important prerequisite for continued growth of bilateral relations.”added Kantha”.

India’s defense sector is still vigilant about the Chinese military’s rapid modernization.

The motley army exercise between India and China pales in front of the scale and size of the naval drills involving the three countries, where the U.S.is fielding a massive aircraft carrier with 90 fighters, a nuclear submarine, and two other warships and a P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft. “Leaders from both China and India have consensus and enough means to take divergences under control”, the article said.

Media reports have cited Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying as saying: “You mentioned India is having naval exercises with United States and Japan and you ask whether China is concerned”.

China objected to the participation of Japan, Australia and Singapore in the exercise in 2007.

Yet, Indian officials, pointed out that New Delhi is pursuing a “multi-vectored diplomacy where IOUs are being parceled to countries on either side of the political aisle”.