Operation Chequerboard

Operation Chequerboard was a high-altitude military exercise conducted by India along the Chinese border in North East India during autumn of 1987. The exercise was conducted to test Indian military response in the Northeast Himalayan region and the US and Soviet reaction to potential Sino-Indian tensions in the region. The Chinese and Indian armies nearly went to war as both sides patrolled the desolate frontier and skirmishes were not infrequent.

The exercise involved 10 divisions of the Indian Army and several squadrons of the IAF and a redeployment of troops at several places in North East India. The Indian Army moved 3 divisions to positions around Wangdung,[1] where they were supplied and maintained solely by air. These troop reinforcements were over and above the 50,000 troops already present across Arunachal Pradesh.[2] The military exercise coincided with statements from India's Chief of Army Staff Krishnaswamy Sundarji that India recognizes the major boundary differences with China and Indian deployments are intended to give Beijing the benefit of the doubt.[3]