China on Wednesday welcomed India’s reported decision to reject Australia’s request to join this year’s Malabar naval exercises saying the security concerns of the different parties should be taken into account while holding such drills.
“I have noticed the relevant reports of India rejecting a proposal of participating parties in joint military exercises,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in response to a question at a daily press briefing. I think India is clear about the consideration behind this behaviour,” added Hua, with China in the past voicing objections to the bilateral India-US annual Malabar exercises, which now include Japan, becoming a multilateral affair.
India had reportedly curtailed Japanese participation in the exercises until 2014, when in the last year of the outgoing UPA government a decision was taken to re-introduce Japan as a third partner. The Narendra Modi government has ensured Japan’s presence as a permanent partner, with Japan having since participated in the annual drills.
The Malabar exercise started in 1992 with the United States and India in the Indian Ocean. Since Japan joined in 2007, it has alternated between the West Pacific and the Indian Ocean.
Media reports said India has rejected Australia’s request to send naval ships to join as observer.
The three countries held their largest ever joint exercise off Japanese coast, which involved 11 vessels and 8,000 personnel.
‘Such a large-scale military exercise was obviously designed to target China’s submarine activities in the East and South China Seas in recent years, promote the US rebalance to the Asia-Pacific and cement the US presence in the region,’ an article in the state run Global said last year.
‘Washington brought New Delhi and Tokyo into the exercise to relieve its pressure due to overstretched military presence around the globe and tighten its grip on the Asia-Pacific region,’ it had said.
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