"India and Japan are both embroiled in territorial disputes with China and share worries about Beijing’s military ambitions"
“It is a reflection of the new strategic environment where there is a degree of unease in India and elsewhere over Chinese activities,” said Uday Bhaskar, a former Indian naval officer who is now at the New Delhi-based Society for Policy Studies. “To deal with the rise of China, India is now seeking to shape the environment by building collective capability,” he told the WSJ (Wall Street Journal)
Japan to join India, US navy war games
, July 24, 2014 02:03 am
New Delhi : Ignoring Chinese objections, the navies of India, the US and Japan will begin their naval war games in the Pacific Ocean from Thursday.
The exercises will take place near Japan and then move to the high seas, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Beijing had objected to the participation of Japan, Australia and Singapore in the naval drills in 2007. Japan also participated in 2009, after which until this year, no third party was invited again and it became a primarily bilateral India-US affair.
But last year after the visit of Indian Prime Minister to Japan and the reciprocal visit by the Japanese Prime Minister, India invited Tokyo to participate in these drills. Ties between New Delhi and Tokyo have also strengthen-ed as geopolitical tensions in the region, especially the South China Seas, have mounted. It is also an indication of a more confident and forceful maritime policy that India is now pursuing, says the Wall Street Journal.
“It is a reflection of the new strategic environment where there is a degree of unease in India and elsewhere over Chinese activities,” said Uday Bhaskar, a former Indian naval officer who is now at the New Delhi-based Society for Policy Studies. “To deal with the rise of China, India is now seeking to shape the environment by building collective capability,” he told the WSJ.
The “highly complex” naval war games in the Pacific Ocean in the area adjacent to the East China Sea would involve the US Navy’s latest aircraft carrier USS George Washington, a nuclear submarine, whereas India would be deploying three of its warships, Navy officials said.
The Japanese Maritime Self Defence Forces will chip in with their two destroyers — Kuriama and Ashigara — along with the US-2 amphibious warfare planes, which are on offer to India also, the officials explained.
India and Japan are both embroiled in territorial disputes with China and share worries about Beijing’s military ambitions, adds the WSJ.
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