New Delhi: There won`t be the annual
Sino-India joint army exercise this year too.
The two sides, however, are now working towards holding
the counter-terrorism war game in 2011.
A decision in this regard was taken by the two countries
at their annual defence dialogue held in Beijing during
Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar`s two-day visit last week.
"The 2011 Sino-Indian joint Army exercise will be held in
China. There will be no exercise in 2010. The preparation for
the 2011 exercise has begun," a Defence Ministry official said
here today.
The two sides had not scheduled any exercise in 2009, as
People`s China celebrated its 60th anniversary.
"Now that the first official meeting between the two
countries took place, they have begun preparations for the
2011 exercise," the official said, explaining why there would
be no war game this year.
The two countries had for the first time exercised
jointly in December 2007 when an Indian contingent went to
Kunming military base in Yunan province in China.
The reciprocal exercise -- called Hand-in-Hand -- was
held in Belgaum in Karnataka in November 2008.
Kumar, who led a 10-member delegation, held talks with
Chinese Deputy Chief of General Staff General Ma Xiatian
regarding the exercise, when both sides expressed the hope
that defence exchanges mechanism would lead to strong mutual
trust and confidence.
"Both India and China agreed to maintain peace and
tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and
reiterated that existing mechanism of Border Personnel
Meetings should be used effectively to defuse any incidents,
which may take place along the LAC," the official said.
The two sides also discussed counter-terrorism measures,
regional security situation and defence cooperations issues.
They also agreed to share information on the anti-piracy
efforts in the Gulf of Aden, where both the countries` navies
have deployed their warships to ward off the sea brigands.
Apart from military exchanges in the field of training
and at academies, they also decided to hold sports meeting for
personnel of Indian and Chinese military along the borders to
promote mutual trust, the official added.
During the visit, Kumar and his delegation also visited
the 6th Armoured Division of the Peoples` Liberation Army and
Academy of Military Sciences, both in Beijing.
PTI
