Rajat Pandit
TNN
NEW DELHI: Jostling for the same strategic space in Indian Ocean Region (IOR), a cat-and-mouse game reminiscent of the tussle between US and Soviet navies during the Cold War is taking place between India and China in full earnest.
Indian submarines, maritime reconnaissance aircraft and warships closely tracked, "buzzed'' and photographed two Chinese destroyers and a supply ship making their way to the Gulf of Aden off Somalia recently for anti-piracy patrols.
Chinese media reports, however, now contend that the two Chinese destroyers, Wuhan and Haikou, among the most-powerful in the People's Liberation Army-Navy fleet, had "forced'' an Indian Kilo-class submarine stalking them to "surface'' after cornering it following a chase.
The Chinese warships even "launched'' a helicopter, armed with torpedoes, against the Indian submarine during the "tense standoff'' near Bab el-Mandab Strait, which separates Yemen and Djibouti, on January 15. After surfacing, the submarine left without any further confrontation, said the reports.
Asked about this, the Navy spokesperson only said, "No Indian submarine surfaced in that area. Moreover, nobody can force anybody to surface in international waters.''
Sources, however, said the Indian Navy had indeed "spooked'' the Chinese warships "several times'' during their transit, right from Malacca Strait to the Somali waters. "Every advanced navy does it. Most of the times, it does not become public knowledge,'' said a source.
The Chinese themselves engage in such activities. In October 2006, for instance, a Chinese Song-class submarine had popped up close to the huge American aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk in Pacific Ocean.
The encounter had stunned the US military brass since the Chinese submarine had slipped undetected past several American warships with advanced sensors to surface right next to Kitty Hawk. Moreover, it indicated the rapidly-expanding Chinese submarine fleet's growing sophistication.
This latest incident is not the first time Indian Navy has spooked the Chinese. As earlier reported by TOI, Navy had photographed three new Chinese submarines in the Mediterranean region as well as a new destroyer off Yemen's Socotra Island in separate incidents in 2006.
"It's an ongoing process. The idea is to record acoustic, propeller and electro-magnetic signatures and data of foreign warships. The data is then processed by intelligence before ending up in a central library, accessed by all our platforms for future use,'' said a senior officer.
"It's like a fingerprint for a specific vessel. Such information is crucial during actual operations to keep track of hostile warships and their capabilities. Our anti-submarine helicopters have even detected a US nuclear submarine in Bay of Bengal some years ago,'' he added.
Though India and China have stepped up "constructive military engagement'' in recent years, which led to their first-ever joint exercise in India last December, New Delhi remains suspicious of Beijing's long-term military objectives.
For one, the 2.5-million strong PLA is modernising at a furious pace. For another, China has build staggering military infrastructure all along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control. Then, of course, there are close strategic ties between Chinese and Pakistani militaries.
In the maritime domain, the Chinese continue to make efforts to encircle India by forging linkages with eastern Africa, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Cambodia, among others, in tune with its "string of pearls'' strategic construct.
There is, of course, stark asymmetry between Indian and Chinese forces. India has only 16 ageing conventional diesel-electric submarines compared to China's 57 attack submarines, a dozen of them nuclear ones.
With its rapidly-modernising Navy, which already has 74 major warships and a robust SSBN (nuclear submarines armed with long-range strategic missiles) programme, China's offensive maritime power is bound to be worrisome for Indian security planners.
Indian submarines, maritime reconnaissance aircraft and warships closely tracked, "buzzed'' and photographed two Chinese destroyers and a supply ship making their way to the Gulf of Aden off Somalia recently for anti-piracy patrols.
Chinese media reports, however, now contend that the two Chinese destroyers, Wuhan and Haikou, among the most-powerful in the People's Liberation Army-Navy fleet, had "forced'' an Indian Kilo-class submarine stalking them to "surface'' after cornering it following a chase.
The Chinese warships even "launched'' a helicopter, armed with torpedoes, against the Indian submarine during the "tense standoff'' near Bab el-Mandab Strait, which separates Yemen and Djibouti, on January 15. After surfacing, the submarine left without any further confrontation, said the reports.
Asked about this, the Navy spokesperson only said, "No Indian submarine surfaced in that area. Moreover, nobody can force anybody to surface in international waters.''
Sources, however, said the Indian Navy had indeed "spooked'' the Chinese warships "several times'' during their transit, right from Malacca Strait to the Somali waters. "Every advanced navy does it. Most of the times, it does not become public knowledge,'' said a source.
The Chinese themselves engage in such activities. In October 2006, for instance, a Chinese Song-class submarine had popped up close to the huge American aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk in Pacific Ocean.
The encounter had stunned the US military brass since the Chinese submarine had slipped undetected past several American warships with advanced sensors to surface right next to Kitty Hawk. Moreover, it indicated the rapidly-expanding Chinese submarine fleet's growing sophistication.
This latest incident is not the first time Indian Navy has spooked the Chinese. As earlier reported by TOI, Navy had photographed three new Chinese submarines in the Mediterranean region as well as a new destroyer off Yemen's Socotra Island in separate incidents in 2006.
"It's an ongoing process. The idea is to record acoustic, propeller and electro-magnetic signatures and data of foreign warships. The data is then processed by intelligence before ending up in a central library, accessed by all our platforms for future use,'' said a senior officer.
"It's like a fingerprint for a specific vessel. Such information is crucial during actual operations to keep track of hostile warships and their capabilities. Our anti-submarine helicopters have even detected a US nuclear submarine in Bay of Bengal some years ago,'' he added.
Though India and China have stepped up "constructive military engagement'' in recent years, which led to their first-ever joint exercise in India last December, New Delhi remains suspicious of Beijing's long-term military objectives.
For one, the 2.5-million strong PLA is modernising at a furious pace. For another, China has build staggering military infrastructure all along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control. Then, of course, there are close strategic ties between Chinese and Pakistani militaries.
In the maritime domain, the Chinese continue to make efforts to encircle India by forging linkages with eastern Africa, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Cambodia, among others, in tune with its "string of pearls'' strategic construct.
There is, of course, stark asymmetry between Indian and Chinese forces. India has only 16 ageing conventional diesel-electric submarines compared to China's 57 attack submarines, a dozen of them nuclear ones.
With its rapidly-modernising Navy, which already has 74 major warships and a robust SSBN (nuclear submarines armed with long-range strategic missiles) programme, China's offensive maritime power is bound to be worrisome for Indian security planners.
3 comments:
World is over populated and scarcity of food supply will soon ignite the WWIII. Indian's military might is no match with the Chinese. I hope India will not taking an unwise and miscalculate approach to incite China into a war game-remember the brief Sino-India border war in the 60's? Let be peace between these two giants because they share so much in religion and cultural similarity.
China will eat its arms just like the Soviet!!!!
War in the 60’s? That’s because the Chinese played dirty tricks when they fought in the war with Indian or it might have been called A Status Quo for that war.
Do Indians have arms and legs? If not, then Chinese can claim victory over India any time.
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