Indian warships join ASEAN countries in military exercise

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

Indian warship INS Satpura - Photo: Indian Navy

Deccan Herald reported on June 1 that two ships, including the stealth ship INS Satpura and the anti-submarine warship INS Kamorta, had participated in the Simbex-2015 exercise with Singapore earlier while two missile destroyers INS Ranvir and logistics ship INS Shakti had just arrived in Jakarta (Indonesia) yesterday.

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

The Indian Navy's activities take place at a time when the East Sea is in turmoil with China's militarization plot in this sea area.

According to Deccan Herald, Indian naval commanders have asserted that the force could 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. The threat of force is not appropriate as countries are committed to resolving the issue,” Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Sunday.

Three years ago, the Indian warship INS Airavat on its way to Vietnam was also "threatened" by a Chinese military ship and asked to leave Chinese territorial waters even though these were international waters, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs recalled.

“On July 22, 2012, 45 nautical miles off the coast of Vietnam, 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 did not see any ships or aircraft and continued its journey without any clashes”.

On June 1, Chinese media reported that the country's military will conduct live-fire drills near the Myanmar border as ethnic violence in Myanmar continues to spread to China.

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

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

In another development, the leader of the Australian Labor Party on June 1 called for restraint in speech and urged the government to handle tensions in the East Sea carefully after the country's Defense Minister Kevin Andrews raised strong concerns about China's illegal behavior at the Shangri-La Dialogue (Singapore).

“Australia, our Asian neighbours and the region all want free movement in the region,” Deputy Foreign Minister and Labor Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek told the ABC. “But it is important to make sure the language is calming rather than inflaming the situation.”

Ms Plibersek's statement came a day after Australia's defence minister joined the US and ASEAN countries in criticising China's island-building activities in the South China Sea. "Australia opposes any coercive or unilateral actions that change the status quo in the South China Sea," Mr Andrews said.

(According to TTO)