Why in news?

• Exercise Hand-in-Hand is conducted annually as part of military diplomacy and interaction between armies of India and China.

Objective:

• The joint exercise for the year 2018 will be conducted from 10 to 23 December 2018 at Chengdu, China.
• The aim of the exercise is to build and promote close relations between armies of both the countries and to enhance ability of 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 Terrorist environment under UN mandate.
• Exercise Hand-in-Hand 2018 will go a long way to further cement relationship between both the nations and will act as a catalyst in bringing bonhomie at grassroots levels between the armies of both countries.