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New Delhi : The Indian Army’s wargames in the strategically-locatednortheastern state of Arunachal Pradesh have evoked a strong response fromChina.
The month-long “Him Vijay” is close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – ademarcation that acts as a boundary between India and China. Beijing claimsArunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, an autonomous territory of China.
China has raised objections against the wargames and warned India that theycould undermine the forthcoming informal summit between Indian PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Mamallapuram – aUNESCO world heritage site near Chennai, reported the *English daily*, *TheTimes of India*.
The summit has not yet been officially announced so far.
The plan for the summit follows a meeting between Prime Minister NarendraModi and President Xi Jinpinglinkinthe eastern Chinese city of Wuhan in April last year.[image: PM Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping]
The combat exercise near India’s border with China involves theparticipation of the Indian Army’s 17 Corps – the first mountain strikecorps, formed as a quick reaction force and for counter-offensives againstChina along the LAC.
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Three recently-created Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) comprising of 5000troops each are said to be participating in the exercise, which is focusedon mountain warfare preparedness. Tanks, light artillery, air defence unitsand India’s signals corp, in addition to other elements, are alsoreportedly taking part in the drill.
The Indian Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster-III, C-130J Super Hercules andAN-32 transport aircraft and Chinook heavy-lift helicopters are being usedto airlift soldiers and equipment across valleys as part of the month-longcombat exercise.
Ahead of the combat exercise, the Indian Air Forcelinkhadactivated its eighth advanced landing ground in the Vijaynagar area in theChanglang district of Arunachal Pradesh. It has been revived to operatefighter jets and transport aircraft near the China border, according todefence ministry sources.
India has held or planned joint exercises with armies of several countriesrecently, including the Royal Thailand Army (16-29 Sept) in thenortheastern state of Meghalaya, the Mongolian Army (5-19 October) inBakloh in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh and with the MaldivesNational Defence Force (7-20 October) in western Pune, Sputnik has reported.
