New Delhi: The Indian
Navy is closely watching the activities of the Chinese PLA Navy in the
Indian Ocean, including movement of Chinese submarines to Sri Lankan
ports, even as the Indian Army is getting ready to commence joint
military exercises with China.
On
Thursday, Naval Chief Admiral R.K. Dhowan said: “As far as the Chinese
deployment is concerned, this is part of their programme for the
anti-piracy escort force which has been operating in the Indian Ocean
since 2008 and (as) part of that they regularly deploy ships and
occasionally we have seen the presence of submarines both conventional
as well as nuclear.
As part of that
operation, they have been in Sri Lanka in the port and this is an area
we are monitoring very closely as part of the operations of the Chinese
PLA Navy in the Indian Ocean.”
Meanwhile,
in a statement, the Army said: “In continuation of the series of joint
exercises between India and China, the ‘Hand-in-Hand 2014’ exercise is
all set to commence shortly at Aundh Camp, Pune on November 16.
This
will be the fourth joint training exercise by the Indian Army with
People’s Liberation Army of China. While the second edition of the
exercise was held at Belgaum in 2008, it has been conducted twice in
China in 2007 and 2013.”
The Army
further said: “The aim of the joint training is to share the drills and
practices learnt while tackling insurgency and terrorism, thereby
promoting healthy military to military relations between the two Armies
and developing joint strategies of conducting operations in a counter
terrorism environment.
