by John Galt
June 5, 2012 22:30 ET
The world must not have enough instability. Of course if one asks the Chinese think about the headline above, their furor at the full story has yet to be revealed in their Communist Party newspapers. The cover for these exercises is practice for future operations in the Gulf of Aden to repel piracy in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. The story from the Business Standard seems innocent enough (click on title to read it in full):
India, Japan to hold first bilateral naval exercise off Tokyo
In a first, India and Japan will hold a bilateral naval exercise off the coast of Tokyo starting June 9.
Four Indian warships including the INS Rana, INS Shakti and INS Shivalik are in Tokyo harbour to commemorate 60 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between two countries and while coming from there, they will hold basic bilateral exercises with Japanese self-defence force, Navy officials said here.
The two-day-exercise will be held after the Indian warships start exiting Tokyo after a four-day port call.
If anyone thinks for one moment the ChiComs will sit quietly as this exercise is completed, please look at the big picture. China is in the process of expanding from a defensive posture to a naval fleet with force projection capabilities around the world. They are still in the infancy phases of carrier tactics, training, and task force formation. Once they feel comfortable with their first task force, odds are it will take a “good will” trip around the world, sailing by India, to Saudi Arabia, on to Europe and eventually a port call or two in the United States.
This will be and is perceived as a direct threat to China if Japan, South Korea and their mortal enemy India elect to proceed with a Joint Defense Action Plan and elicit more members to join their forces from the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Thailand. This is just one more region that will have to be monitored closely as this story seems to be more of an action to strike a fuse rather than repel Barbary pirates thousands of miles away.
Recent Comments