'India Exercises With Whomever It Chooses To', Says MEA After China Objects To Indo-US Military Exercise In Uttarakhand

India has hit out at China for objecting to a joint military exercise conducted by Indian and United States Army in Uttarakhand's Auli.

China had earlier objected to the 18th edition of ‘Yudh Abhyas’, the India-US military exercise, and said the show of military strength taking place around 100 km from the India-China border in Uttarakhand violated the spirit of the border agreements of 1993 and 1996.

Responding to Chinese statement, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that the India-US military exercise in Auli has got nothing to do with the 1993 and 1996 Agreements.

"India exercises with whomsoever it chooses to and it does not give a Veto to third countries on this issue," the MEA spokesperson added.

On the question of anti-lockdown protests in China, Bagchi said that he would not like to get into "specific COVID strategies" that each country may be pursuing.

"We would hope that humanity as a whole is able to emerge fully from COVID, out of this COVID pandemic at the earliest. But insofar as, you know, specific COVID strategies that each country may be pursuing, I would not like to get into that. I think I would just like to hope that we are able to come out of COVID," he said.