Exercise Hand-in-Hand between armies of India and China set to begin

Exercise Hand-in-Hand between armies of India and China will be conducted from 10 to 23 December at Chengdu, China.  The exercise will involve tactical level operations in an International Counter Insurgency/ Counter Terrorist environment under UN mandate.

The opening ceremony for the exercise will be conducted on 11 December 2018 which will consist of a ceremonial parade and address by the head of both contingents. The aim of the exercise is to build and promote close relations between the armies of both countries.

Troops from the Indian side have been selected from 11 SIKHLI of Indian Army, while troops from a unit of Tibetan military district will be taking part. Both the contingents will establish a Joint Command Headquarter and conduct a joint exercise on anti-terrorist operations.

Exercise Hand-in-Hand 2018 will go a long way to further cement relationship between both the nations and will act as a catalyst in bringing bonhomie at grassroots levels between the armies of both countries.

It is to be noted that Hand-in-Hand Exercise between the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was not held due to Doklam stand-off. In 2016, the exercise was held at Pune’s Aundh Military Camp.

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