Hand-in-Hand Exercise 2018:Indian Army Contingent Plays Friendly Football Match With Chinese Army Troops, Watch Video

After the video of Indian Army troops teaching bhangra to Chinese soldiers during Hand-in-Hand joint military exercise in China’s Chengdu went viral on social media, the official twitter handle of the Indian Army posted another video of soldiers of both the nations playing friendly football match during the military drill. The joint military exercise is being conducted from December 10 to 23. The opening ceremony of the exercise was held on December 11. The exercise will consist of a balance of indoor classes and outdoor training activities. Hand-in-Hand Exercise 2018: Indian Army Soldiers Teach Bhangra to Chinese Army Troops During Joint Military Drill; Watch Video.

Friendly football match played between both Indian and Chinese troops during ‘Hand-in-Hand’ military drill:

Ex #HandInHand2018. Troops of #IndianArmy & #ChineseArmy played a Friendly Football match. Both sides showcased excellent sportsmanship during the match. #Synergy #Interoperability #UnitedNations @SpokespersonMoD @PIB_India pic.twitter.com/wtLlEFxeww

— ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) December 13, 2018

More than 100 personnel from both the armies are participating in the exercise. 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. Troops from both the nations also carried out live firing practice during the military drill.

Ex #HandInHand2018. Troops of #IndianArmy & #ChineseArmy carried out #Combat Skill Live #Firing excercise. Both contingents are well poised & ensuring #synergy #interoperability as required as per #UnitedNations @SpokespersonMoD @PIB_India pic.twitter.com/ZrJ7qGuCpZ

— ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) December 14, 2018

Col Puneet Pratap Singh Tomar, Commanding Officer, 11 SIKHLI, led the Indian contingent, while the Chinese contingent was led by Col Zhou Jun. The seventh edition of the exercise is being conducted after a gap of one year. The last edition of ‘Hand-in-Hand’ took place in 2016. The drill was not held in 2017 due to the Doklam stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops In Bhutan. Indian troops entered the Doklam plateau to stop the Chinese military from building a new road as it would have given strategic advantage to China. India considered it as a serious security concern.