The Times of India
First wargames with China in India 23 Oct 2008, 0404 hrs IST, Rajat Pandit, TNN
NEW DELHI Despite the recent chill in bilateral relations with Beijing after it tried to derail New Delhi's case for civil nuclear commerce at the Nuclear Suppliers Group, India is all set to host Chinese soldiers for the first time on its territory after the bitter 1962 war.
Defence ministry sources on Wednesday said the first-ever Sino-Indian military combat exercise on Indian soil — with counter-terrorism as its primary thrust area — is likely to be held at Belgaum towards December-end.
"A top Indian Army delegation is currently in Beijing for the initial planning conference to decide the exact theme, setting and level of participation for the exercise," said a source.
The wargames come at a time when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to reach Beijing from Tokyo on Thursday evening, to take part in the Asia-Europe summit, which will also lead to bilateral meetings with the Chinese leadership.
"Yes, there has been a downturn in our bilateral relations with China, which, despite promises, held out till the very last in the waiver for us at the NSG meeting in Vienna last month. But now, attempts are being made to arrest the slide," said a senior official.
India, on its part, remains suspicious of the continuing China-Pakistan nexus in the nuclear arena and the ongoing modernization of the 2.5-million-strong People's Liberation Army, with advanced trans-border military capabilities and a wide array of long-range nuclear-tipped missiles.
Then, of course, there is China's military infrastructure build-up in Tibet as well as its strategic manoeuvres in the Indian Ocean Region. Moreover, coupled with the meandering border talks, is the PLA's aggressive policy of intrusions into Indian territory along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control in all three sectors — western (Ladakh), middle (Uttarakhand and Himachal) and eastern (Sikkim and Arunachal).
Nevertheless, the forthcoming joint exercise is being seen as a CBM between the largest and third-largest militaries in the world. This will be the second time the two armies will undertake combat drills together after the first ''hand-in-hand'' exercise was held at Kunming in China in December 2007.
Over the last couple of years, India and China have moved towards institutionalizing defence and military exchanges, with an MoU on defence cooperation and exchanges being signed in May 2006 and the first annual defence dialogue kicking off in November 2007.
Similarly, the military protocol signed during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit here in April 2005, goes far ahead of the earlier November 1996 agreement on maintaining peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control. It lays down that the two armies will "exercise self-restraint" and take "all necessary steps" to avoid any escalation on the LAC.
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