Troops from neighbors India and China are expected to participate in a joint military exercise in late October.
International Business Times (IBT) reports:
Sources have told Daily Excelsior, a Kashmiri daily, that the exercise will be held in eastern Ladakh. More details on the drill could be eventually released. This exercise will follow the earlier joint exercise that was conducted in February 2016…
These exercises are aimed at bringing peace and tranquillity to the region. The two countries are among the fastest growing economies in the world and have fought only one war, in 1962, when compared with the otherwise peaceful civilizational co-existence of these ancient civilizations.
The news of the upcoming joint military exercise comes as clashes between nuclear armed India and Pakistan have escalated in the disputed and Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir.
India, Pakistan, and China all have competing claims to the region. However, China has stayed out of the dispute between India and Pakistan.
Although regional rivals Pakistan and India claim all of Kashmir, each of them only controls part of it. China maintains a relationship with both countries. It is one of India’s most important trade partners.
Meanwhile, TIME recently reported:
Pakistan is angling itself toward China, the only country on the continent with a population, economy, and military that top India’s.China has agreed to spend $46 billion in investment in Pakistan, which is also the world’s largest recipient of weapons from China. China also builds Pakistan’s nuclear reactors. These are ties that bind.
India is reportedly concerned about China’s growing military and its relationship with Pakistan.
TIME notes:
Indians are wary of China and seeking partners to balance China’s growing clout. Some 48 percent of Indians say that China’s relationship with Pakistan is a very serious problem; another 21 percent of Indians say it’s somewhat serious. China’s growing military power elicits roughly the same response from Indians, as well. Wariness of China has led India to strengthen ties with the U.S. and other Asian countries.
China and the United States are at odds over Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. Last month, nearly hundreds of soldiers from India and the United States participated in the twelfth edition of a joint military exercise near India’s border with China.
India has also participated in military cooperation exercises with China in recent years.
IBT notes:
Previously, India and China also conducted exercise in 2015 at the Kunming Military Academy in Yunnan, China… In 2013, both the countries had agreed to establish a hotline between border commanders… The hotline between the commanders is supposed to reduce the risk of friction at the border.
Moreover, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui met in New Delhi on Oct. 3.
India has urged the United Nations to “isolate” its regional rival Pakistan if it continues to refuse to join the global fight against terrorism, noting that it was long past time to identify Pakistan as a nation that sponsors and exports terrorism.
U.S. and Afghan officials have long accused Pakistan of providing sanctuary to terrorists who carry out attacks in Afghanistan.
In August, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Pakistan to join other countries in fighting terrorism.
Last month, two top U.S. Republican lawmakers introduced legislation for the United States to officially list its current ally Pakistan as a state-sponsor of terrorism along with Syria, Iran, and Sudan.
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