Exercise Malabar concludes

Naval exercise successfully concludes.

Exercise Malabar: A concert of democracies on the high seas

From October 14 to 19 the navies of India, the United States and Japan participated in Exercise Malabar 2015 — a complex naval war gaming in the Bay of Bengal. This exercise aimed at enhancing naval cooperation and bolstering capabilities of the navies to address challenges of maritime security in the India-Pacific region.

Exercise Malabar has been a India-US bilateral naval exercise since the 1990s and included the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Forces (JMSDF) in 2007, 2009 and 2013. From this year, the inclusion of JMSDF has been made a permanent feature, despite Chinese protests. An article in China’s Global Times said, ‘India should be vigilant to any intentions of roping it into an anti-China camp.’ The importance of India’s step towards permanency of multilateral joint drills is centred on the purpose of establishing a rules-based India-Pacific region in the face of a growing Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

To continue reading, please click here.

Source: hindustantimes.com