Even as the Left is frothing at the mouth about the N-Deal, the government is going ahead with plans for a multilateral naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal that is seen as anti-China.
Left sees five-nation exercise from Sept 4 as anti-China
NEW DELHI: Even as the Left is frothing at the mouth about the Indo-US nuclear deal, the government is going ahead with plans for a multilateral naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal that is seen as anti-China. The naval exercises, held jointly with the US since the 1990s, are scheduled for September 4-9, and have been expanded to include Japan, Singapore and Australia this time. The Left is vehemently opposed to this alliance of strategic interests, given its close party-to-party ties with the Chinese Communist party.
In a statement tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, defence minister AK Antony said there had been 27 Indo-US military exercises starting 2002.
The Australian navy chief, vice-admiral Russ Shalders, was in Visakhapatnam, a day after inviting the Indian Navy as observers to their naval exercises. The chief of America’s Pacific Command, Admiral Timothy J Keating, on Tuesday expressed concerns about China’s claims about its “peaceful rise” as a superpower. Admiral Timothy, who was to land in Delhi on Wednesday night, heads America’s largest military command, which also covers India.
Amidst such a rare confluence of India’s new strategic allies, government sources told DNA that they are determined to go ahead with the largest multilateral naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal to which the US, Australia, Singapore and Japan are sending almost two dozen ships. Add the Indian flotilla, and the total number of warships involved in the exercise would be around 30. Many call it the Asian Nato, and the CPI(M)-led Left Front has demanded its cancellation, quite apart from the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Sources in the government said there was no move to cancel the so-called Malabar naval exercise, where the five participating nations will also be seeing three aircraft carriers in action – two from the US and the Indian INS Viraat. However, officials said the government would like to keep the exercises a low-profile affair.
Navy sources said the thrust of the proposed multilateral exercises would be traditional “military scenarios”, in which counter-terrorism actions would also figure.
Meanwhile, Admiral Timothy Keating, who took over as chief of America’s Pacific Command in March this year, was scheduled to meet the top brass of ministry of defence, among others, during his visit here. In Cambodia the other day he had observed that the military systems and capabilities China was developing “would indicate to us that perhaps their intentions aren’t exactly beneficial to security throughout the Pacific.”
There has been a massive step-up in military cooperation between India and the US over the past five years, especially in terms of bilateral military exercises. In a statement tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, defence minister AK Antony said there had been 27 Indo-US military exercises starting 2002. This is the highest number of military exercises India has had in the past five years with any nation.
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