The first ever land military exercise between India and China, originally scheduled for October 2007 and then delayed for a month, has again been delayed because the two long-time antagonists cannot decide on the details of dates and venue. The two nations had conducted minor joint naval exercise in the East China Sea in 2003.
The planned ground exercise was to be an anti-terrorism drill involving about 150 troops from each country. The principal purpose is to increase the confidence levels between the two countries, which fought a brief but bitter border war in 1962 and have been long-time rivals for power in southern Asia as well as having had continuing border disputes. As originally agreed, India was to send an Army unit to China for the exercise, but new negotiations will now be held to determine the details of the exercise.
The original agreement came after the Indian Armys chief of staff, General J.J. Singh, visited China at the end of May 2007. Those discussions, according to the Indian Defense Ministry, led to a decision on “engagement and mutual confidence building” including joint training exercises.
During the lengthy China-Soviet rivalry that began in the late 1950s, the Soviet Union became a prime arms supplier to India. Subsequently, China became a close ally and arms supplier of Pakistan, Indias long-time rival and opponent in several major conflicts and confrontations.
Those long-time alliances and rivalries involving the Soviet Union began to unravel with the demise of the Soviet regime at the end of 1991. Subsequently, the Russian Federation has become a major arms supplier and, in some respects, economic partner of China as well as of India. In August 2007 small Chinese and Russian military units held a joint exercise called Peace Mission 2007.
Significant political and territorial issues continue to divide China and India. At this time India contends that China occupies 14,670 square miles of its territory, while China claims the whole of the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Still, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Hu Jintao have held recent meetings, with Singh promising “to do everything possible to cement our relationship.” And, he declared, “Our government and people, regardless of their political affiliations, want the strongest relationship with China.”
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I’ll make a bold prediction,India & Pakistan will be allies together with Russia & China(If Greece & Turkey could get along in NATO,why not India & Pakistan?).Add Iran & Turkey & the Former Soviet states that make up the membership & observer status of the Collective Security Treaty Organization,the Economic Cooperation Organization(this includes Afghanistan by the way),the GUAM Organization for Democracy & Economic Development(that means Georgia,Moldova,& the Ukraine),& the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.Add to this from Africa,the Arab Maghreb Union,the Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa(this includes former members),the Community of Sahel-Saharan States,& the Intergovernmental Authority on Development & you get “the ‘Gog-Magog’ Coalition of the Willing.”
I wish we would become better allies with India. India seems to do a good job keeping their many religious groups happy, maybe this could be used in Iraq?
I think there’s lots of people in India who would dispute that the Indian government does a good job of keeping its multiple religious groups happy. It’s just that the American news would rather cover Paris Hilton instead of riots where dozens/hundreds of Hindus are killed by Muslims or dozens/hundreds of Muslims are killed by Hindus. It’s happened, and not too far in the recent past.
Roy:
Except for Russia, it used to be called the Group of 77.
Apparently it’s a stretch for these two countries to cooperate using only a reinforced company of elite paratroopers.
The Indian military suffers from vast deficiencies. General competency is a primary issue. China’s military is more interesting. Historically, its battlefield results are mixed. There were notable successes in Korea. There were also failures at Mukden against the USSR, as well as against the Vietnamese after the US withdrawal.
I was trying to describe a military alliance involving among others,India,Pakistan,Russia,China,Turkey,Iran,the Ukraine,Moldova,Georgia,Azerbaijan,the Central Asian Former Soviet States,various African countries(in fact,from Africa,its easier to count on one hand what African countries aren’t going to be in this alliance,an alliance that counts Liberia among it),& lastly,Afghanistan.
Russia,China,& India all have arms making capabilities & arms industries.For those who say,”so what?”,its like this,Russian,Chinese,& Indian weapons are like the ugly she-male on steroids.They’re not very pretty to look at,but they get the job done.Our(the U.S.) weapons are like a high maintenance supermodel girlfriend.They require a lot of money to maintain,& they don’t expect to get dirty,because as we all well know,they don’t work very well when they’re dirty.