Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Oct 11: As India and China Army personnel gear up for anti-terrorism military exercises from tomorrow in China, the Army officers of two neighbouring countries will be holding two more rounds of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) this month on operational discussion and strategic and diplomatic ties, which were aimed at resolving boundary disputes between the two countries.
The military exercises between the two nations starting October 12 will last 10 days, which will be followed by two more rounds of strategic dialogue at the official level between Indian Army and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China.
Official sources told the Excelsior soon after the conclusion of joint military exercises between India and Pakistan after 10 days, the officials of the two Armies would meet in Beijing for high level operational discussions followed by the third round of strategic and diplomatic ties. All three CBMs between the two Armies will conclude by the end of this month, they said.
Pointing out that Army officers from Jammu and Kashmir were also part of the joint military exercises, they said the three major CBMs between Indian Army and China’s PLA will boost the strategic ties between the two countries, which quite often faced standoff along the un-demarcated Line of Actual Control (LAC) including last month’s skirmishes in Burtse area of Ladakh, which was resolved after about a week but not before the troops of two sides came in an eyeball-to-eyeball position.
“The 10-day anti-terrorism military exercises between the troops of two neighbouring countries, who many a times turn hostile on the LAC, will focus on various aspects of terrorism operations and the two sides will share mutual experiences. Though China is virtually free of terrorism, its troops would like to gain from anti-terrorism operations undertaken by the Indian Army in various parts of the country especially Jammu and Kashmir,’’ sources said, adding it was in view of this that some Army officers from Jammu and Kashmir have been included in the Army contingent that will be undertaking joint military exercises in Chinese city of Kunming, beginning tomorrow and lasting 10 days.
Excelsior had last month exclusively reported that India and China Armies will be holding joint military exercises from October 12.
Sources said the operational discussion and talks on strategic and diplomatic ties, which will be followed by the military exercises this month between Indian Army and PLA officials, were aimed at boosting ties between the two countries and will lead to resolution of boundary dispute between the two countries, which often lead to escalation of tensions between the two Armies.
“During last year’s exercises held at Pune, the joint drills had focused on practices learnt while tackling insurgency and terrorism, thereby promoting healthy military-to-military relations between the two Armies,’’ sources said.
A total of 144 troops from southwest China’s Chengdu Military Command will join their Indian counterparts of Naga Regiment from Kolkata for the drill, code-named “Hand-in-Hand 2015”.
The training will be the fifth of its kind between the two Armies. The first was held in southwest China’s Yunnan Province in 2007, followed by drills in Belgaum, India in 2008, southwest China’s Sichuan in 2013 and in Pune in 2014.
Sources said the joint military exercises were proposed by the Chinese Army and the Indian side had accepted the proposal, which was first taken up in 2007. The Indian Army has sent its Naga Regiment, based in Kolkata at present, and some officers from different parts of the country including Jammu and Kashmir for the joint exercises.
“The joint military exercises will lead to more cordial relations between India and China,” sources said.
According to sources, the joint military exercises will boost bilateral relations between the two countries, which were progressing well after Chinese President’s visit to India last year followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Beijing in May this year.
“The fact that Burtse standoff in Ladakh sector between the two countries was resolved in less than a week by the two Armies without any intervention by the Governments of the two countries early this month was an indicative of improving relations, which could further go up after the joint military exercises,” sources said.
The Indian Army and the PLA soldiers were involved in eyeball-to-eyeball position at Burtse along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh sector early this month after the PLA jawans had intruded about 500 meters inside the Indian territory and erected a watch tower there. The Indian Army had dismantled the watch tower and seized the Chinese camera that had been installed to keep vigil over the Indian side. The standoff was, however, resolved in two simultaneous flag meetings between India and Chinese Army officials.
Recently, the two sides had opened an additional Border Meeting Point (BMP) at Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) taking total number of BMPs in Ladakh to two and overall five. Chushul in Ladakh is the second meeting point between Sino-Indian Armies in Ladakh. Three other points were located in Arunachal Pradesh (two) and Sikkim (one).
A hotline contact between Northern Command and Chinese PLA was also among the various CBMs proposed by the two countries, which could mature after sometime. Increasing number of the BMPs was another proposed CMP, which had been implemented on August 15 this year on the Independence Day of the country.
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