The Indian Navy is currently monitoring the movement of Chinese warships and a submarine that are participating in a naval exercise with neighbouring Pakistan, according to government sources.
The sources informed that the Navy has been monitoring the Chinese platforms from the moment they entered the Indian Ocean region through the Malacca strait. This comes as China deployed a number of platforms, including frontline warships and a submarine, for the Sea Guardian exercise with Pakistan.
About the Sea Guardian exercise
All-weather friends China and Pakistan are conducting the third edition of the Sea Guardian bilateral naval exercise in the northern Arabian Sea from November 11 to 17. The exercise comes as India and the United States held the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in New Delhi in the presence of US secretaries Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin.
The exercise is aimed at enhancing defence cooperation between both sides. Pakistan has also deployed frontline destroyers, frigates, helicopters and more for the naval exercise.
The Sea Guardian-3 exercise is divided into two phases — harbour and sea phase - in which both navies share experience on contemporary maritime security challenges and conduct advanced level naval operations, including maritime security operations, tactical manoeuvres, various warfare-related exercises and search and rescue operations.
The Pakistan Navy has said that the exercise will further strengthen the decades-old and time-tested friendship between Islamabad and Beijing, according to Dawn. The exercise began in the presence of Liang Yang, commander at the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy base.
As part of India's comprehensive maritime domain awareness, the Navy maintains a close watch on all the movements in the Indian Ocean region, in line with national security interests, the sources said.
India's concerns
It is no doubt that the growing bonhomie between China and Pakistan is a major source of concern, given that Beijing seeks to enlargen its footprint in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and is actively supporting the modernisation of the Pakistani Army
In the first half of August, India raised concerns over a Chinese surveillance warship Shi Yan 6 that docked at the Colombo Port. Sri Lanka had delayed the arrival of the Chinese vessel after concerns raised by India.
Following India, US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland raised concerns over the docking of the Chinese research vessel at Sri Lanka with Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, as per reports. Sabry assured that Sri Lanka would follow the SOPs for foreign vessels. He also said that Colombo's "even-handed" approach cannot exclude China from the process.
Last year, India expressed strong concerns over a similar visit by Yuan Wang 5 - a Chinese ballistic missile and satellite tracking ship - to Hambantota Port. The concerns stemmed from the possibility that the vessel's tracking systems could be used to spy on Indian defence installations while it was on its way to Sri Lanka. However, it was allowed to dock at the Hambantota port after a considerable delay.
(with inputs from PTI)
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