Indian warships and ASEAN countries conduct joint exercises.

Four Indian Navy warships have arrived in the South China Sea to prepare for joint exercises with five ASEAN nations surrounding the disputed area with China.

Indian Navy warship INS Satpura - Photo: Indian Navy

According to a Deccan Herald report on June 1st, two ships, including the stealth destroyer INS Satpura and the anti-submarine warfare ship INS Kamorta, had previously participated in the Simbex-2015 exercise with Singapore, while the guided missile destroyer INS Ranvir and the logistics ship INS Shakti arrived in Jakarta (Indonesia) yesterday.

Indian warships will conduct exercises with Indonesian forces for four days before docking at Kuantan in Malaysia, Sattahip in Thailand, and Sihanoukville in Cambodia. After the exercises with Southeast Asian countries, the warships will proceed to Australia.

The Indian Navy's operations are taking place at a time when the South China Sea is turbulent due to China's militarization efforts in the region.

According to the Deccan Herald, Indian naval commanders have asserted that the force may view the South China Sea as an “area of ​​interest” if Indian assets are threatened.

“India believes in freedom of navigation. India’s oil exploration activities in the South China Sea are in accordance with international law. China’s threat of using force is inappropriate because the countries are committed to resolving the issue,” Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj emphasized on Sunday.

Three years ago, the Indian warship INS Airavat, en route to Vietnam, was also confronted by Chinese military vessels, which demanded it leave Chinese territorial waters despite it being international waters, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs recalled.

“On July 22, 2012, at a distance of 45 nautical miles from the Vietnamese coast, the ship received a radio signal from a person claiming to be from the Chinese Navy stating that the ship “was entering Chinese waters.” INS Airavat saw no ships or aircraft and continued its journey without any encounter.”

On June 1st, Chinese media reported that the country's military would conduct live-fire exercises near the Myanmar border as ethnic violence in Myanmar continues to spill over into China.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese military announced that the exercise will begin tomorrow, June 2nd, in Yunnan province.

Myanmar forces are still fighting a Chinese-ethnic separatist group in the Kokang region of Shan State. The Myanmar government declared a state of emergency in Kokang in February.

In other developments, the leader of the Australian Labor Party on June 1 called for restraint in speech and urged the government to handle tensions in the South China Sea with caution after the country's defense minister, Kevin Andrews, raised strong concerns about China's illegal behavior at the Shangri-La Dialogue (Singapore).

“Australia, its Asian neighbors and the region all want freedom of movement in the region,” Deputy Foreign Minister and Labor Party Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek said on ABC. “But it’s important to ensure the language is more conciliatory than inflammatory.”

Ms. Plibersek's statement came a day after the Australian Defence Minister joined the US and ASEAN countries in criticizing China's island reclamation activities in the South China Sea. "Australia opposes any intimidation or unilateral actions that alter the status quo in the South China Sea," Mr. Andrews stated emphatically.

(According to TTO)