Thursday, August 16, 2007
India promotes 'goodwill' naval exercises
By Sudha Ramachandran
Aug 14, 2007, Asia Times
BANGALORE - A month from now, the Bay of Bengal will come alive to one of the biggest naval exercises to be held in these waters when the navies of India, the United States, Australia, Singapore and Japan conduct a five-day joint exercise. The event is sure to create more than mere ripples in the region.
Code-named "Malabar 07", the multi-nation naval exercise that will take place from September 4-9 will see the participation of two destroyers from Japan, a frigate from Singapore, and a frigate and a tanker from Australia. However, it will be the US and Indian navies that will hold center stage.
The US Navy will be represented by 13 warships, including its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which stirred controversy in India last month when it dropped anchor at Chennai for a few days, and USS Kitty Hawk, as well as the nuclear submarine USS Chicago, two Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers, and six Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers.
The Indian Navy will be represented by seven warships, including its aircraft carrier, INS Viraat. Besides, the Indian Air Force's deep-penetration Jaguar strike aircraft, the Indian Navy's Sea Harrier jets, and the Sea King helicopters from INS Viraat will be part of the action.
While the Indian Navy has been exercising with its counterparts from Singapore and the US for more than a decade, it was only this April that for the first time the navies of India, Japan and the US participated in a joint exercise in the Pacific Ocean, off the Boso Peninsula in central Japan. Although the Indian and Australian navies have held joint exercises before, this is the first time they will be part of one of this magnitude.
The upcoming exercise in the Bay of Bengal is the 13th in the ongoing US-India Malabar series of naval exercises. It has been "extended" to include other countries, Indian officials have said. This is the first time a Malabar naval exercise is being conducted on India's eastern seaboard.
"The purpose of the Bay of Bengal exercise is to develop naval interoperability among the participating fleets," said Lawrence Prabhakar, associate professor at the Madras Christian College and visiting fellow at the Singapore-based S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. The exercises will include offensive and defensive missions, surface and submarine warfare, maritime interdiction, and operations to counter piracy and terrorist acts at sea.
The exercise will be held between Visakhapatnam, headquarters of India's Eastern Naval Command, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands - not far from the strategic Strait of Malacca. Drawing attention to the significance of the site of the exercise, Prabhakar told Asia Times Online that the Bay of Bengal lies at the confluence of seas with the Indian Ocean on one side and Southeast Asian waters on the other. "It is at the tapering end of waters through which oil traffic coming out of the Strait of Hormuz pass before entering the Strait of Malacca."
The Strait of Malacca connects the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea. This narrow waterway is crucial to maritime trade - it is one of the busiest ocean highways in the world. Its traffic density is projected to increase from 94,000 ships in 2004 to 141,000 in 2020. A quarter of the world's oil shipments pass through this waterway every day. Half of China's imported oil and 95% of the oil shipped to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan pass through the strait.
Although China is not a Bay of Bengal littoral, it has systematically cultivated naval ties with Bangladesh and Myanmar to attain access to these waters. Its presence in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean has been growing thanks to such ties - a matter of grave concern to such countries as India.
The joint naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal sends out a message to the Chinese navy "that its future presence will not go unchallenged in the Indian Ocean", said Prabhakar.
The upcoming Bay of Bengal naval exercise is seen by some as an extension of the activities of the recently launched Quadrilateral Initiative (also known as "Quad" or the "axis of democracy"). After all, the exercise involves all four members of the Quad - India, Japan, the US and Australia - plus Singapore.
The navies of India, the US, Japan and Australia had formed a core group to provide relief to Indonesia during the 2004 tsunami disaster. That experience, the four Asia-Pacific democracies have argued, underscored the immense potential that lay in the four working together.
But China is not impressed by these claims. Beijing feels there is more than just disaster management in this informal quadrangular exchange. It believes that the Quadrilateral Initiative is an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance to contain a rising China.
Beijing, which expressed annoyance during the India-US-Japan naval exercise off the Japanese coast in April, went a step further a month later and issued demarches seeking explanations from Canberra, New Delhi, Tokyo and Washington on the purpose of the exercises during their meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Regional Forum (ARF) meeting at Manila in May.
The Quad's members have gone to great lengths to dispel speculation that their alliance is seeking to contain a rising China. After the Manila meet, for instance, where the Quad was inaugurated, all four members stressed that the meeting was not directed against China but limited to discussing a few issues of common concern.
Earlier, Japan had described the grouping as an "arc of prosperity and freedom", while India clarified that the initiative has "no security implication". During his visit to New Delhi last month, Australian Defense Minister Brendan Nelson stressed that Canberra was in favor of limiting the initiative to trade and culture.
After the April trilateral naval exercise, Tokyo sought to calm Beijing's ruffled feathers by claiming that the war games were not directed at any third country but were a goodwill exercise, while New Delhi pointed out that its navy was exercising with the Chinese as well. Indeed, within days of the US-India-Japan naval exercise, two destroyers of Indian Navy joined Chinese warships of the People's Liberation Army Navy's North Sea Fleet for a bilateral exercise.
The naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal involving the Quad plus Singapore is bound to cause ripples far bigger than those that followed the April exercise.
Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi is said to have conveyed to Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee Beijing's concerns over the Quad. Interestingly, Yang is said to have brought up the issue when Mukherjee broached the question of China extending support to India's case for permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council.
With New Delhi looking to win China's support in the Nuclear Suppliers Group so that restrictions on nuclear trade with India might be removed, India will certainly not want to run the risk of raising Beijing's hackles. And then there is the border question that India is anxious to settle.
India stands to gain little from irking China at this juncture, a retired Indian diplomat said: "It will therefore not want to be seen to be ganging up against China."
Fortunately for India, all of the Quad's other members too have interests in China they would not want to jeopardize at this point. So they will be with India on the tightrope walk.
Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in Bangalore. ¶ 1:28 PM
Aug 14, 2007, Asia Times
BANGALORE - A month from now, the Bay of Bengal will come alive to one of the biggest naval exercises to be held in these waters when the navies of India, the United States, Australia, Singapore and Japan conduct a five-day joint exercise. The event is sure to create more than mere ripples in the region.
Code-named "Malabar 07", the multi-nation naval exercise that will take place from September 4-9 will see the participation of two destroyers from Japan, a frigate from Singapore, and a frigate and a tanker from Australia. However, it will be the US and Indian navies that will hold center stage.
The US Navy will be represented by 13 warships, including its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which stirred controversy in India last month when it dropped anchor at Chennai for a few days, and USS Kitty Hawk, as well as the nuclear submarine USS Chicago, two Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers, and six Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers.
The Indian Navy will be represented by seven warships, including its aircraft carrier, INS Viraat. Besides, the Indian Air Force's deep-penetration Jaguar strike aircraft, the Indian Navy's Sea Harrier jets, and the Sea King helicopters from INS Viraat will be part of the action.
While the Indian Navy has been exercising with its counterparts from Singapore and the US for more than a decade, it was only this April that for the first time the navies of India, Japan and the US participated in a joint exercise in the Pacific Ocean, off the Boso Peninsula in central Japan. Although the Indian and Australian navies have held joint exercises before, this is the first time they will be part of one of this magnitude.
The upcoming exercise in the Bay of Bengal is the 13th in the ongoing US-India Malabar series of naval exercises. It has been "extended" to include other countries, Indian officials have said. This is the first time a Malabar naval exercise is being conducted on India's eastern seaboard.
"The purpose of the Bay of Bengal exercise is to develop naval interoperability among the participating fleets," said Lawrence Prabhakar, associate professor at the Madras Christian College and visiting fellow at the Singapore-based S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. The exercises will include offensive and defensive missions, surface and submarine warfare, maritime interdiction, and operations to counter piracy and terrorist acts at sea.
The exercise will be held between Visakhapatnam, headquarters of India's Eastern Naval Command, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands - not far from the strategic Strait of Malacca. Drawing attention to the significance of the site of the exercise, Prabhakar told Asia Times Online that the Bay of Bengal lies at the confluence of seas with the Indian Ocean on one side and Southeast Asian waters on the other. "It is at the tapering end of waters through which oil traffic coming out of the Strait of Hormuz pass before entering the Strait of Malacca."
The Strait of Malacca connects the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea. This narrow waterway is crucial to maritime trade - it is one of the busiest ocean highways in the world. Its traffic density is projected to increase from 94,000 ships in 2004 to 141,000 in 2020. A quarter of the world's oil shipments pass through this waterway every day. Half of China's imported oil and 95% of the oil shipped to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan pass through the strait.
Although China is not a Bay of Bengal littoral, it has systematically cultivated naval ties with Bangladesh and Myanmar to attain access to these waters. Its presence in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean has been growing thanks to such ties - a matter of grave concern to such countries as India.
The joint naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal sends out a message to the Chinese navy "that its future presence will not go unchallenged in the Indian Ocean", said Prabhakar.
The upcoming Bay of Bengal naval exercise is seen by some as an extension of the activities of the recently launched Quadrilateral Initiative (also known as "Quad" or the "axis of democracy"). After all, the exercise involves all four members of the Quad - India, Japan, the US and Australia - plus Singapore.
The navies of India, the US, Japan and Australia had formed a core group to provide relief to Indonesia during the 2004 tsunami disaster. That experience, the four Asia-Pacific democracies have argued, underscored the immense potential that lay in the four working together.
But China is not impressed by these claims. Beijing feels there is more than just disaster management in this informal quadrangular exchange. It believes that the Quadrilateral Initiative is an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance to contain a rising China.
Beijing, which expressed annoyance during the India-US-Japan naval exercise off the Japanese coast in April, went a step further a month later and issued demarches seeking explanations from Canberra, New Delhi, Tokyo and Washington on the purpose of the exercises during their meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Regional Forum (ARF) meeting at Manila in May.
The Quad's members have gone to great lengths to dispel speculation that their alliance is seeking to contain a rising China. After the Manila meet, for instance, where the Quad was inaugurated, all four members stressed that the meeting was not directed against China but limited to discussing a few issues of common concern.
Earlier, Japan had described the grouping as an "arc of prosperity and freedom", while India clarified that the initiative has "no security implication". During his visit to New Delhi last month, Australian Defense Minister Brendan Nelson stressed that Canberra was in favor of limiting the initiative to trade and culture.
After the April trilateral naval exercise, Tokyo sought to calm Beijing's ruffled feathers by claiming that the war games were not directed at any third country but were a goodwill exercise, while New Delhi pointed out that its navy was exercising with the Chinese as well. Indeed, within days of the US-India-Japan naval exercise, two destroyers of Indian Navy joined Chinese warships of the People's Liberation Army Navy's North Sea Fleet for a bilateral exercise.
The naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal involving the Quad plus Singapore is bound to cause ripples far bigger than those that followed the April exercise.
Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi is said to have conveyed to Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee Beijing's concerns over the Quad. Interestingly, Yang is said to have brought up the issue when Mukherjee broached the question of China extending support to India's case for permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council.
With New Delhi looking to win China's support in the Nuclear Suppliers Group so that restrictions on nuclear trade with India might be removed, India will certainly not want to run the risk of raising Beijing's hackles. And then there is the border question that India is anxious to settle.
India stands to gain little from irking China at this juncture, a retired Indian diplomat said: "It will therefore not want to be seen to be ganging up against China."
Fortunately for India, all of the Quad's other members too have interests in China they would not want to jeopardize at this point. So they will be with India on the tightrope walk.
Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in Bangalore. ¶ 1:28 PM
