Indian Navy monitoring Chinese warships participating in exercise with Pakistan: Sources

The Indian Navy has been closely monitoring the movements of a Chinese submarine and warships taking part in a naval drill with Pakistan, according to government sources on Wednesday.

The Navy is monitoring the Chinese platforms from the moment they entered the Indian Ocean region through the Malacca strait, they added.

China’s PLA Navy has deployed a number of platforms, including frontline warships and a submarine, for the Sea Guardian exercise with Pakistan.

“As part of India’s comprehensive maritime domain awareness, the Navy maintains a close watch on all the movements in the Indian Ocean region, in line with national security interests,” the sources told PTI.

All-weather friends China and Pakistan are conducting the third edition of the Sea Guardian bilateral naval exercise in the northern Arabian Sea from 11 to 17 November.

The exercise comes as India and the United States held the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in New Delhi in the presence of US secretaries Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin.

The exercise is aimed at enhancing defence cooperation between both sides. Pakistan has also deployed frontline destroyers, frigates, helicopters and more for the naval exercise.

The Sea Guardian-3 exercise is divided into two phases — harbour and sea phase – in which both navies share experience on contemporary maritime security challenges and conduct advanced level naval operations, including maritime security operations, tactical manoeuvres, various warfare-related exercises and search and rescue operations.

The Pakistan Navy has said that the exercise will further strengthen the decades-old and time-tested friendship between Islamabad and Beijing, according to Dawn. The exercise began in the presence of Liang Yang, commander at the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy base.

It is no doubt that the growing bonhomie between China and Pakistan is a major source of concern, given that Beijing seeks to enlargen its footprint in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and is actively supporting the modernisation of the Pakistani Army

In the first half of August, India raised concerns over a Chinese surveillance warship Shi Yan 6 that docked at the Colombo Port. Sri Lanka had delayed the arrival of the Chinese vessel after concerns raised by India.

With inputs from agencies