By IANS
Gwalior : India Saturday sought to allay apprehensions that an upcoming multilateral naval drill, also involving the US navy, in the Bay of Bengal had military overtones, saying it was a pointer to the country’s growing importance on the world stage.
“There is no question of confrontation. There is no military alignment. It’s only an exercise,” Defence Minister A.K. Antony told reporters here of Malabar-2007, the five nation drill Sep 4-9 involving the navies of India, the US, Japan, Australia and Singapore.
“It (the exercise) will only help enhance the capabilities of our armed forces to deal with natural calamities (like the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami) and other eventualities,” the minister said on the sidelines of an Indian Air Force (IAF) exposition of its multifaceted capabilities at this sprawling air base in central India.
India’s Left parties that are giving a hard time to the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the landmark civilian nuclear deal with the US have announced a series of demonstrations during the exercise, which they see as another sign of New Delhi’s growing closeness to Washington.
China, which has not officially commented on the drill, is known to be unhappy over the event as it is being conducted in the Bay of Bengal for the first time. China has been cultivating naval cooperation with Bangladesh and Myanmar to gain access to the Bay of Bengal. China has also been strengthening military cooperation with Sri Lanka.
In June, China had issued a demarche to India, the US, Japan and Australia seeking details about their four-nation meeting, termed a Quadrilateral Initiative. India and Australia had quickly assured Beijing that security and defence issues did not form part of the meeting’s agenda.
Asked whether demands had been made to postpone or cancel Malabar-2007, Antony replied: “Nobody told me.
“There were some anxieties expressed but when we explained the situation to them, they understood,” he added, without elaborating.
Antony pointed out that Malabar-2007 was the 13th in a series that had begun in 1992 and which hitherto had been a bilateral India-US engagement. Its scope had been expanded only this year.
“There was a break after Pokhran (when India exploded an underground nuclear device in 1998) when they (the US) backed out and the exercises then started again.
“During this time, almost all the political parties that are in parliament were either in the government or supported the government,” he said, answering criticism that the naval drill lacked political consensus in the country.
Antony also drew a distinction between joint drills and defence cooperation, which he said was purely bilateral and the scope of which would never be expanded.
“We have defence cooperation with most of the important countries and this will remain purely bilateral. Our armed forces also exercise with most of the important countries. Every year this is expanding.
“India’s importance is growing. Almost all countries want to engage with us. It’s a good thing. It’s a recognition of India’s prestige and reliability,” the minister contended.