A company level contingent — consisting of 98 Army personnel of the battle hardened 15 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry that is tackling insurgency in the Northeast — reached Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan, to kick off the “Hand in Hand 2007” anti-terror drill, with special units of the People’s Liberation Army.

The week-long exercise, set in an urban landscape, will see the two countries fine-tuning tactics to jointly tackle terrorists. Indian troops, acknowledged as experts in the field due to their anti-terror experience of over three decades, will share basic drills like searching a suspected house, laying an ambush and carrying out cordon and search operations.

“The exercise is aimed at building and promoting positive military relations, inter-operatability and to undertake joint operations in counter insurgency operations,” Brig S K Chatterjee, Deputy Director General (public information), told mediapersons at a briefing on the exercise at the Army Headquarters.

The final exercise, in which soldiers will raid a terrorist hideout, will commence on December 25, but troops would undertake joint training and familiarisation drills to acquaint them with each other’s weapons and command systems.

While the Indian forces are only carrying their personal weapons like the INSAS rifle, light machine guns and mortars, China will provide heavier firepower with a few tanks, helicopter gunships and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for reconnaissance purposes.

On the sidelines of the exercise, troops will participate in friendly sports like tug-of-war, volleyball and basketball. Troops from the JAKLI have also prepared a cultural programme for their Chinese counterparts and will perform bhangra.

The joint exercise, seen as the first step towards greater military-military interaction between the countries, will be followed by a similar drill in India next year. In addition, the IAF is also keen on testing their skills against Chinese pilots.

Indo-China relations are on an upswing with an increasing number of high profile visits between the countries. While UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi visited Beijing in October, preparations are currently on for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s China visit from January 13-16.

Meanwhile, ahead of the PM’s visit, another round of strategic dialogues between the two countries are expected to kick off later this week. Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon will travel to Beijing later this week for a round of talks with Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of China Wu Dawei.