Context

India and China resumed their annual Hand-in-Hand joint at Chengdu, China

About

• This year’s iteration of the Hand-in-Hand exercise will be the 7th in the series.
• The aim of the exercise is to build and promote close relations between armies of both the countries and to enhance ability of the joint exercise commander to take military contingents of both nations under command.
• The exercise will involve tactical level operations in an international counter insurgency/ counter terrorism environment under UN mandate.
• Company size contingents of 11 SIKHLI from Indian Army and a regiment from Tibetan Military District of People’s Liberation Army participated in the exercise.

History:

• It was started in 2007.
• The last edition was held in 2016.  It was suspended in 2017 amid heightened tensions between the two countries following the disengagement of a standoff between their armed forces on the Doklam plateau, a piece of territory claimed by India-aligned Bhutan that is also claimed by China