India, the US, and Japan prepare for large-scale naval exercises.

India, the United States, and Japan are preparing for a large-scale naval exercise called Malabar in the Bay of Bengal, which will begin on July 10th.

India will conduct joint military exercises with the United States and Japan.

The purpose of this operation is to combat piracy and terrorism. But of course, this is just a cover...

The US-India joint military exercises have been conducted annually since 2002, - Andrei Karneev, Deputy Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Lomonosov Moscow State University, wrote in a commentary for "Sputnik".

Sometimes, these exercises involve Singapore and Australia. Since 2015, Japan has regularly participated.

It's not difficult to guess that this reinforced the anti-China stance of the exercise, against the backdrop of existing territorial disputes between New Delhi and Tokyo with Beijing, as well as Washington's efforts to actively intervene in the Asia-Pacific region.

This year, the ten-day exercise will involve around 15 warships, including the Indian aircraft carrier Vikramaditya, the US nuclear aircraft carrier Nimitz, and the Japanese helicopter carrier Izumo, along with submarines, and will include air force participation. Using such a large force for the fight against piracy is clearly excessive…

Amidst deteriorating bilateral relations, Beijing is closely monitoring New Delhi's military cooperation with China's military-political rivals in the Asia-Pacific region.

Strategic mistrust continues between Beijing and New Delhi. With China's ambition to become a powerful maritime power, Beijing is completely unacceptable to the increasing influence of the Indian navy in the Asia-Pacific region.

Furthermore, today, India's naval potential is comparable to that of China, and in some respects even surpasses the Chinese Navy.

If the Malabar exercise leads to long-term strategic cooperation in an India-US-Japan format, it would mean a significant weakening of China's position in the region.

According to Sputnik