India on Tuesday will kick off wargames with two military superpowers, the US and China, striking a fine balance amid the geopolitical jostling between the two for supremacy in the crucial Asia-Pacific region. Even as 162 Indian soldiers touched down in an IAF IL-76 at the Chengdu military region in China for the "Hand-in-Hand (HiH)'' exercise on Monday, Indian and American warships and maritime patrol aircraft were simultaneously gathering in the Bay of Bengal to launch the "Malabar'' combat manoeuvres.
The last time the Indo-US Malabar exercise was held in the "eastern theatre" of Bay of Bengal in 2007, it was expanded to include Australian, Japanese and Singaporean navies as well. Viewing it as an evolving "axis of democracy" designed to "contain" it, China had let loose diplomatic protests.
Since then, India has largely restricted the annual Malabar exercise to a bilateral one as well as held it in the "western theatre" of Arabian Sea to avoid ruffling China. But this has not stopped the US for describing India as "a linchpin'' in its new strategy to "re-balance'' forces towards the Asia-Pacific. Even though it has its own "security concerns" vis-a-vis an "assertive" China, India is keen to be seen as a "neutral player" in the unfolding great game.
Indian armed forces have held joint exercises with all the five permanent UN Security Council members this year, having already matched their combat skills with the UK, France and Russia. Officers said India is attaching "great importance" to the HiH exercise, which comes soon after the two countries inked the border defence cooperation agreement to defuse troop face-offs along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control ( LAC).
Apart from soldiers from Army chief General Bikram Singh's 16 Sikh Light Infantry battalion, director-general of military operations (DGMO) Lt-Gen Vinod Bhatia is also heading a five-member "observer" delegation to Miaoergang in Chengdu for the November 5-14 exercise.
The HiH exercises were suspended — the first two editions were held at Kunming (China) in 2007 and Belgaum (Karnataka) in 2008 — after diplomatic spats over visa and other issues in 2009-10. "The exercise is aimed at enhancing interoperability, cooperation and understanding between the two armies," said an officer.
Conversely, India and the US have set a scorching pace in joint exercises, holding over 80 of them in the last decade. The Malabar, though smaller in size this year, represents the high-end of the expansive military-to-military engagement between the two countries.
"US Navy has deployed the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS McCampbell and P3C patrol aircraft for the November 5-11 exercise. India has fielded stealth frigate INS Shivalik, missile destroyer INS Ranvijay and TU-142M maritime reconnaissance aircraf," said an officer.
"The US and India share common values and seafaring traditions. Our navies are natural partners. Malabar is designed to advance military-to-military cooperation as well as the capacity to plan and execute tactical operations in a multinational environment," he added.