The next edition of Sino-Indian joint military exercises is unlikely to take place this year as well. India and China have so far held two rounds of joint military exercises in 2007 and 2008. But there were no joint exercises in the three succeeding years. “Any scheduling of the third edition of the joint exercise in 2012 looks highly unlikely,” said sources. Sources added that the Indian Army is already scheduled to hold exercises this year with a few other countries and that there is no likelihood of any exercise with China this year.
“The specifics of conducting the third edition of the exercises was not discussed during the Annual Defence Dialogue (ADD) that took place in December last year. But the holding of the ADD itself indicates improvement in defence ties,” said a source.
There are several reasons why the next edition of the joint exercise could not take place in the past three years after it started off promisingly in 2007 and 2008. The first edition took place in Kunming, China, in 2007. The second edition took place in Belgaum, Karnataka, in 2008. In 2009, the Chinese told India that they were busy with the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in October that year. India then expressed confidence that the exercises would take place in 2010. During this period, there were several controversies over frequent Chinese border troop transgressions into Indian territory worsening ties.
In 2010, China refused to grant permission to the then chief of the J&K-based Army Northern Command to visit China. This resulted in suspension of defence exchanges. In 2011, following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to China, the two countries decided to resume defence exchanges.