*Navies of 13 countries in joint exercise off Andaman islands
*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media
(NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI, India - February 6, 2010: Even as India kicked off the largest ever edition of its ‘Milan’ set of exercises, in which 12 countries fr
om the region are participating, Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma has said the multi-nation exercise is not aimed at creating a security bloc against China.
Emphasising that the Milan exercise, in which 12 warships from nations like Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, India and Indonesia are taking part, is aimed at humanitarian relief and disaster management, Verma said, adding that there is no question of it being seen as a security threat by any nation. “Milan is not aimed at the security aspects. Its theme is more at coming together in areas where we can jointly tackle natural and manmade disasters,” he said, interacting with mediapersons after addressing an international seminar on disaster relief operations, which is part of the exercise.
The Navy Chief was answering queries on whether such a large scale exercise — this is the largest build-up of warships in the area in the recent past — would trigger suspicions in China which is steadily increasing its maritime presence in the region. The Andaman Nicobar Command (ANC), incidentally, is the closest Indian naval establishment to China.
China had earlier accused India of trying to create a security bloc against it when the multi-nation Malabar exercise was held near the Andaman Islands in 2007. Beijing had raised fears that a security quadrilateral consisting of the US, India, Australia and Japan, all of which had taken part in the Malabar exercise, was grouping against it in the Indian Ocean Region. Incidentally, several participating countries at Milan too have outstanding maritime border issues with the Asian giant.
om the region are participating, Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma has said the multi-nation exercise is not aimed at creating a security bloc against China.
Emphasising that the Milan exercise, in which 12 warships from nations like Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, India and Indonesia are taking part, is aimed at humanitarian relief and disaster management, Verma said, adding that there is no question of it being seen as a security threat by any nation. “Milan is not aimed at the security aspects. Its theme is more at coming together in areas where we can jointly tackle natural and manmade disasters,” he said, interacting with mediapersons after addressing an international seminar on disaster relief operations, which is part of the exercise.
The Navy Chief was answering queries on whether such a large scale exercise — this is the largest build-up of warships in the area in the recent past — would trigger suspicions in China which is steadily increasing its maritime presence in the region. The Andaman Nicobar Command (ANC), incidentally, is the closest Indian naval establishment to China.
China had earlier accused India of trying to create a security bloc against it when the multi-nation Malabar exercise was held near the Andaman Islands in 2007. Beijing had raised fears that a security quadrilateral consisting of the US, India, Australia and Japan, all of which had taken part in the Malabar exercise, was grouping against it in the Indian Ocean Region. Incidentally, several participating countries at Milan too have outstanding maritime border issues with the Asian giant. Though Admiral Verma on Friday played down speculation of an anti-China bloc he acknowledged that India is strengthening its military infrastructure on the Andaman Nicobar island chain.
While the Army has an assault brigade on the island and the Air Force can operate fighters as well as transport aircraft from different air strips on the island chain, a new all-weather airbase is coming up north of Port Blair.
Meanwhile, after the traditional welcome at Port Blair, officers from all the participating countries took part in a table top exercise code-named ‘Milan Perseverance’. Besides the humanitarian aspect, the table top exercise also focused on jointly dealing with piracy, gun-running and illegal migration.
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