NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday admitted that there would be no `hand-in-hand (HiH)' military exercise between the Indian and Chinese armies this year. Instead, the next HiH combat drill would be held in 2010, it said.
Reacting to TOI's report that the HiH exercise, held for the first time in 2007 and followed by the second edition in 2008, had been called-off for 2009, a foreign ministry spokesperson said, "It was mutually decided during the last exercise (in December 2008) that the next joint military exercise would be held in 2010. Therefore, no joint military exercise was planned in 2009."
The TOI report did not say when the decision was taken but that it had only now come to light that the HiH drill, billed as a path-breaking confidence-building measure between India and China, would not be held this winter and that no clear explanations were forthcoming from the defence ministry.
Moreover, in earlier briefings by the defence ministry and Army, it was conveyed that the HiH exercise would be an annual affair.
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