The next edition of India and China military drill, that was resumed last year following a freeze over the Doklam stand-off, will be held later this year.
An official said there that the joint military exercise”Hand-in-Hand” will be held in Umroi near Shillong, Meghalaya. Thelast exercise, which was the seventh edition, was held in Chengdu in December2018.
In Umroi, the two forces will focus on counter terroroperations, establishment of joint command post and joint combat drill though adetailed planning meeting will be held in August.
Hand-in-Hand was started in 2007 in Kunming but was haltedafter the Chinese troops came to Belgaum in Karnataka for the second edition.The exercised resumed only five years later in 2013 as New Delhi and Beijinghad suspended their military ties because of a visa row. After the 6th editionin Pune in 2016, the exercise again got derailed because of 73-day stand-offbetween the two forces in Sikkim’s Doklam area where the troops from both sidescame face to face. The situation eased last year and the troops ofthe two sides interacted once again in China and videos of People’s LiberationArmy (PLA) soldiers dancing with their Indian counterpart also went viral. Thedrill is on track this year despite recent incident in Demchok region of Ladakhwhere a Chinese group objected to locals celebrating the Dalai Lama’s birthday.The situation was diffused in flag meeting as is the practice.