China and India hold joint Army exercises

China and India hold joint Army exercises


NEW DELHI: The world's largest and third-largest armies are likely to hold their first-ever joint military exercise in the near future, with Army chief Gen J J Singh now headed for China to take bilateral defence ties to a new high. "I am going to propose the holding of such manoeuvres," said Gen Singh on Saturday, talking about the proposed Sino-Indian counter-terrorism exercise on the eve of his week-long visit to Beijing. Though India still remains wary of China's rapid modernisation of its 2.5-million-strong People's Liberation Army, double the size of the Indian forces, it has invited Chinese observers to its own military exercises in the last couple of years. With military CBMs being implemented along the still-unresolved 4,057-km Line of Actual Control to maintain "peace and tranquillity" over the last few years, India now wants to take the fledgling bilateral military ties to the next level by holding a joint exercise. "In principle, the Chinese have agreed to holding of such an exercise... during the visit, we hope to work out the details and whether the exercise would be held on Chinese or Indian soil. Both armies are interested in expanding military-to-military ties," said Gen Singh. This comes a day after defence minister A K Antony dismissed reports of any military confrontation with China, holding that border talks with Beijing had gained tremendous momentum over the last three years. Be that as it may, it's also a fact that India and US had recently come together to discuss China's growing military power, including its anti-satellite weapon test held on January 11.