India, China Joint Training Exercise Hand in Hand 2016 begins in Pune

The sixth edition of India-China Joint Training Exercise “Hand in Hand 2016” has started in Pune, Maharashtra.
The aim of the bilateral military exercise is to share the expertise in drills and practices while tackling insurgency and terrorism between Indian Army and People’s Liberation Army of China.
Thus, it seeks to promote healthy military to military relations between the two armies and developing joint strategies for conducting operations in a counter terrorism environment.
Key Facts

• The 2016 Hand in Hand Exercise has been planned at the company level with respective battalion headquarters controlling the training.
• The exercise will be supervised by a joint directing panel comprising senior officials of both the nations.
• It will be conducted in three phases. The first phase will consists of familiarization with weapons and equipment.
• The second phase will consist of basic training that includes combat conditioning, support weapon and practice of drills like establishment of covert observation post, firing of personal weapon, house clearing, cordon and search and humanitarian and disaster relief operations.
• The third phase of the exercise is the conduct of joint exercise. This exercise will enrich the two contingents of both armies in further honing basic military skills.

Background
The Hand-in-Hand joint training exercise is in continuation of the series of joint exercises between both countries. The first exercise in the series was held in China at Kunming in Yunnan province in 2007.  The exercise between two neighbours contributes immensely in developing mutual understanding and respect for each other’s military. The last exercise was held in October 2015 at the Kunming Military Academy in China.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2016