Japan Navy to join India, US in Bay of Bengal

[Hindustani78]

Exercise Malabar: Japan Navy to join India, US in Bay of Bengal | The Indian Express

The 2015 exercise will see Japan’s participation in a naval manouevre in the Bay of Bengal after eight years, but Australia will not be participating.

India and US have restricted the Malabar largely to a bilateral format after China had protested against the 2007 exercise held in the Bay of Bengal.

Updated: June 30, 2015 8:06 am


Despite the India-US joint statement issued during President Obama’s Delhi visit stating that “they will upgrade” Exercise Malabar, the maritime exercise will remain restricted to India, US and Japan this year, diplomatic sources said. The 2015 exercise will see Japan’s participation in a naval manouevre in the Bay of Bengal after eight years but Australia will not be participating in the exercise. This was confirmed at the seventh US-India-Japan trilateral dialogue held at Honolulu last Friday, according to sources.

US team at the trilateral dialogue was led by Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Biswal and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel. The Indian delegation was led by Joint Secretaries in the Foreign Ministry, Vinay Kwatra, Pradeep Rawat and Amandeep Gill. Takio Yamada, Japan’s Director-General of Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs headed Tokyo’s delegation.

Although Japan had been part of the 2014 Malabar exercise held at its Sasebo naval base, India and US had kept Tokyo out of the initial planning for the current edition. This was because the 2015 Malabar exercise is scheduled to be held in the Bay of Bengal in October this year. India and US have restricted the Malabar largely to a bilateral format after China had protested against the 2007 exercise held in the Bay of Bengal. Along with the Indian and American navies, the 2007 edition had included the Australian, Japanese and Singaporean navies.


Malabar is an annual naval training exercise conducted by Indian and American navies, which includes fighter combat operations from aircraft carriers and other joint interdiction exercises. India will host its first-ever IN-RAN bilateral naval exercise with Australia in October-November, and JIMEX maritime exercise with Japan in November.

 

[Alphacharlie]

Bravo Bravo.....Party has just STARTED.

 

[Hindustani78]

Japan likely to be part of Indo-US naval exercise 'Malabar' | Zee News
Last Updated: Thursday, July 9, 2015 - 23:22


New Delhi: Japanese Navy is likely to be part of the joint Indo-US Naval exercise 'Malabar' slated for later this year, a development which may not go down well with China.


Government sources said a decision has been taken to include Japan in the bilateral exercise.

"A joint invitation will be sent soon asking the Japanese Navy to be part of Malabar, 2015. Further modalities are being worked out," the sources said.

The exercise is slated to be held in October in the Bay of Bengal.

'Malabar' is an annual naval training exercise conducted by Indian and American navies, which includes fighter combat operations from aircraft carriers and other manoeuvres.

Japan had last taken part in the Malabar hosted by India in 2007. However, a strong reaction from China against the inclusion of Japan and Australia in 2007 led to the exercises being largely kept bilateral.

The decision comes after the three countries held their first-ever high-level trilateral dialogue last month which was attended by foreign secretary S Jaishankar, Japanese vice foreign minister Akitaka Saiki and Australian secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Varghese.

While they discussed a range of issues, maritime security, including freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and trilateral maritime cooperation in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean, topped the agenda.

Japanese vice foreign minister Saiki had said India, Japan and Australia are on the "same page" over increasing assertiveness of China in the disputed South China Sea.

Asserting that an aggressive posture was a matter of grave concern to his country, Saiki had said the issue was discussed at length.

PTI

 

[[Bregs]]

Good step, Japan has participated few years back too

 

[Super Commando Dhruva]

Breaking news. Tremors in CHINA

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

Malabar exercises should start to include Malaysia and Vietnam as well

 

[GR!FF!N]

@Nihonjin1051

bro,please bring some large ships and subs..we're going to field Carrier,so will USA.Hope Japan fields its Helo Destroyer..Izumo is sexy.

 

[Hindustani78]

Last Updated: Sunday, July 19, 2015 - 10:19
Bilateral Indo-Japan naval exercise may be called off | Zee News


New Delhi: With Japan invited to join the Indo-US naval exercise 'Malabar' after eight years, a similar activity with the Japanese Navy scheduled for later this year is likely to be called off.

Though no decision has been taken so far, defence sources said there was no point in doing a repeat exercise given the time and cost involved.

"A joint invite from India and US to Japan has been drafted. Japan will surely join the Malabar exercise scheduled for later this year. Hence, there is no point in doing a separate bilateral exercise with Japan soon after," the sources said.

The Malabar exercise is slated to be held in October in the Bay of Bengal. It is an annual training exercise conducted by Indian and American navies, which includes combat operations from aircraft carriers and other manoeuvres.

Japan had last taken part in the Malabar hosted by India in 2007. However, a strong reaction from China against the inclusion of Japan and Australia in 2007 led to the exercises being kept largely bilateral.

The decision comes after the three countries held their first-ever high-level trilateral dialogue last month which was attended by foreign secretary S Jaishankar, Japanese vice foreign minister Akitaka Saiki and Australian secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Varghese.

While they discussed a range of issues, including maritime security, freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and trilateral maritime cooperation in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean topped the agenda.

Japanese vice foreign minister Saiki had said India, Japan and Australia are on the "same page" over increasing assertiveness of China in the disputed South China Sea.

Asserting that an aggressive posture was a matter of grave concern to his country, Saiki had said the issue was discussed at length.

PTI

 

[[Bregs]]

Japan must be invited every year to for this naval excesses

 

[Optimos Prime IA]

Look at the way these guy write an article . Copy paste the old article and add one or two new lines

 

[Hindustani78]

Look at the way these guy write an article . Copy paste the old article and add one or two new lines

Seems its linked to the Chinese fishing ships.

 

[Hindustani78]

Last Updated: Wednesday, July 22, 2015 - 18:33
India, Japan, US plan naval exercises in tightening of ties in Indian Ocean | Zee News


New Delhi: Japan is set to take part in joint naval exercises with India and the United States in the Indian Ocean in October, military and diplomatic sources said, a drill that so riled China eight years ago that Delhi has not since hosted such a multilateral wargame.


The Indian Ocean has emerged as a new arena of competition between China making inroads and India trying to recover its position as the dominant maritime power in the region.

New Delhi`s decision to expand the "Malabar" exercises that it conducts with the United States each year to include Japan suggests a tightening of military relations between three major maritime powers in Asia, analysts said.

Military officials from India, the US and Japan are meeting at a US Navy base in Yokosuka, near Tokyo, on Wednesday and Thursday to plan the exercises, a navy and a diplomatic source in New Delhi said.

A Japanese government official in Tokyo confirmed the meeting and said representatives from the three navies were discussing Tokyo`s participation in the wargames. He declined to be identified.

The officials will decide the type of warships and planes the navies will deploy for the exercises in the Bay of Bengal in the northeastern Indian Ocean, said one of the sources familiar with the initial planning.

"They are discussing platforms, logistics and interoperability between the three naval forces," said the source. India and the United States have fielded aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines in previous bilateral exercises.

An Indian defence ministry official declined any comment on Malabar 2015, saying announcements will only be made closer to the event. A spokesman for Japan`s Maritime Self Defense Force said no decision had yet been taken on Japan`s participation.

CLOSER TIES

Jeff Smith, a South Asia specialist at the American Foreign Policy Council, said Japan was keen to take part in the exercises this year at a time when it is expanding the role of its military against a more assertive China.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s inclusion of Japan after some hesitation was part of a trending pattern of forging close ties with the US and its allies.

"I`d view aircraft carrier participation in this year`s drill as yet another signal from the Modi government that it was shedding the (previous) government`s anxiety about a more overt balancing posture toward China and a more robust strategic embrace of the US and Japan," Smith said.

India last hosted a multilateral exercise in 2007 when it invited Japan, Australia and Singapore to join its drills with the US Navy in the Bay of Bengal, prompting disquiet in Beijing where some saw it as a US-inspired security grouping in the making along the lines of NATO in Europe.

At the time, Beijing activated diplomatic channels seeking an explanation from the participating nations, said Gurpreet Khurana, Indian navy captain and executive director of the government-funded Maritime Foundation of India.

The exercises held in the Indian Ocean were scaled back in the following years, with India participating in three-way events only when it was away from its shores, such as last year`s drills off Japan`s Nagasaki coast.

AN OCEAN OF RIVALRY

But China`s expanding naval footprint in the Indian Ocean including submarines docking in Sri Lanka, just off the toe of India last year, and again in Karachi in May, has prompted Modi`s administration to accelerate naval modernisation as well as shore up ties with maritime nations.

"Modi`s Delhi is no longer willing to give Beijing a veto over its defence partnerships," said C. Raja Mohan, a top Indian foreign policy expert who has just published a book: "Modi`s World: Expanding India`s Sphere of Influence."

Just as China had overridden India`s concerns about arch-enemy Pakistan and was building ports and roads under a $46 billion economic corridor, New Delhi was free to pursue closer security cooperation with the West and its partners, Mohan said.

The Indian Ocean has become the new global centre of trade and energy flows, accounting for half the world’s container traffic and 70 percent of its petroleum shipments.

More than three quarters of China`s oil transits through the Indian Ocean and its choke points such as the Malacca Straits, prompting its search for friendly ports and islands to secure the shipping lanes backed by an expanding Chinese navy, Chinese commentators say.

"India alone cannot assure the security of the Indian Ocean, even if it regards (it) as its backyard and wishes no one to compete with it there," wrote Zhou Bo, an honorary fellow at the Beijing-based Academy of Military Science in the China Daily.

"If the Pacific Ocean is big enough to accommodate China and the US, so is the Indian Ocean to accommodate India and China."

Reuters

 

[Hindustani78]

Indo-Japan defence ties set to grow stronger | Zee News
Last Updated: Sunday, July 26, 2015 - 10:27


New Delhi: Defence ties between India and Japan are set to grow stronger with both coming together for Malabar naval exercises in October and exploring possibility of having joint air exercises.

Japanese defence sources expressed satisfaction at the growth trajectory in the defence ties saying, "the direction is right. We need to work on it more".

"Japan is happy to be invited for the Indo-US naval exercise 'Malabar' slated for October in the Bay of Bengal," the sources told PTI, adding that the next step hopefully will be joint air exercise.

It is not just the cooperation at the level of forces that both countries are looking at. "There is a huge opportunity present in the defence manufacturing too especially in the context of Make in India," Indian defence sources said.

The importance that Japan puts on defence ties with India can be seen from the fact that the Japanese Embassy has added two more defence attaches here - one each from the Air Force and Coast Guard -- this year.

"At present, there are only four countries other than India to which Japan sends its attaches from the three services and the Coast Guard. This shows how much importance we attach to the defence and maritime cooperation between Japan and India," Japanese Ambassador to India Takeshi Yagi said.

Amid increasing Chinese assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, Japan had in March during the visit of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar sought enhanced cooperation with India in defence and security sector including in the field of maritime security.

Japan has been witnessing conflict with China over control of private islands in South China Sea. A territorial dispute even exists between China and Japan over the Senkaku Islands, which Beijing refers to as the Diaoyu Islands.

India considers relations with Japan very important, which is evident from the fact that Parrikar chose Japan as the first country to visit after assuming office of Defence Minister.

PTI

 

[opruh]

Meh.

 

[Hindustani78]

China monitors Japan’s role in Indo-U.S. naval ties - The Hindu

Beijing keen to see if Tokyo will become a permanent fixture in Indo-U.S. manoeuvres in the Indian Ocean
China is carefully monitoring the upcoming Malabar naval exercises to gauge whether Japan will become a permanent participant in the Indo-U.S. manoeuvres in the Indian Ocean.

A write-up in the state-run Xinhua news agency observed that Washington is “pushing for making the ‘Malabar’ naval exercises between India and the U.S. into a trilateral framework to involve Japan as a permanent participant.” China had objected to the participation of Japan, Australia and Singapore in Malabar 2007 exercise, which was hosted by India in the Bay of Bengal. Since then, these drills, when held in a trilateral format that included Japan, took place in the West Pacific. The sharp deterioration in Sino-Japanese ties, following the controversy over the jurisdiction over the Diaoyu Island — also called Senkaku by Japan — and the security bills in Parliament that, if passed, would free Japan to contribute forces in global hotspots, has heightened Beijing’s security concerns. Analysts say that alarm bells are likely to ring loud in China by perceptions that Japan’s out-of area reach was being enhanced in the Indo-Pacific zone through naval exercises such as Malabar 2015.

The Chinese also want to ensure that India, which is fast becoming an active player in the Indo-Pacific, does not join Japan, Australia and South Korea in bolstering the U.S. led, China-centred containment policy under President Barack Obama’s ‘Asia Pivot’ doctrine. A write-up in the China Daily newspaper has noted that Washington is stringing Japan, India and Australia within the ambit of its ‘Pivot to Asia’ doctrinal formulation.

“The U.S. concept of Asia Pivot revolves around isolating China and creating a block of Regional and Extra Regional 2nd tier powers to strategically suffocate China in the 21st century. These 2nd tier powers include India, Australia and Japan.”

Observers point out that Chinese concerns have been heightened by the first trilateral meeting of Foreign Ministers from India, U.S. and Japan that was held last month in New York. In a veiled reference to China, a media note circulated by the U.S. State Department following the meeting pointed to “the growing convergence” of the interests of the three countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

This, the State Department noted, was underscored by “the importance of international law and peaceful settlement of disputes; freedom of navigation and over flight; and unimpeded lawful commerce, including in the South China Sea.”

China to take a hard look at Malabar-2015 naval exercises - The Hindu

China is carefully monitoring the upcoming Malabar naval exercises to gauge whether Japan will become a permanent participant in the Indo-U.S. manoeuvres in the Indian Ocean.

A write-up in the state-run Xinhua news agency observed that Washington is “pushing for making the ‘Malabar’ naval exercises between India and the U.S. into a trilateral framework to involve Japan as a permanent participant”.

China had objected to the participation of Japan, Australia and Singapore in Malabar-2007 exercise, which was hosted by India in the Bay of Bengal. Since then, these drills, when held in a trilateral format that included Japan, took place in the West Pacific.

The sharp deterioration in Sino-Japanese ties, following the controversy over the jurisdiction over the Diaoyu Island, also called Senkaku by Japan, and the security bills in its Parliament that are in play, which would free Japan to contribute forces in global hotspots, has heightened Beijing’s security concerns. Analysts say that alarm bells are likely to ring loud in China by perceptions that Japan’s out-of area reach was being enhanced in the Indo-Pacific zone through naval exercises such as Malabar 2015.

The Chinese also want to ensure that India, which is fast becoming an active player in the Indo-Pacific, does not join Japan, Australia and South Korea in bolstering the U.S. led and China-centred containment

policy under President Barack Obama’s “Asia Pivot” doctrine. A write-up in the China Daily newspaper has noted that Washington is stringing Japan, India and Australia within the ambit of its Pivot to Asia doctrinal formulation. “The U.S. concept of Asia Pivot revolves around isolating China and creating a block of Regional and Extra Regional 2nd tier powers to strategically suffocate China in the 21 century. These 2nd tier powers include India, Australia and Japan,” the daily observed.

Observers point out that Chinese concerns have been heightened by the first trilateral meeting of foreign ministers from India, U.S. and Japan that was held last month in New York. In a veiled reference to China, a media note circulated by the State Department following the meeting, pointed to “the growing convergence” of the interests of three countries in the Indo-Pacific region, underscored by “the importance of international law and peaceful settlement of disputes; freedom of navigation and over flight; and unimpeded lawful commerce, including in the South China Sea”.

Indian officials, however, stress that notwithstanding the perception of its tilt towards Washington, New Delhi has been pursuing “multi-vectored diplomacy where IOUs are being parcelled to countries on either side of the political aisle”.

Observers say that the unimpeded access to the commercial sea lanes, which are central to countries on either side of the Malacca Straits, is at the heart of the growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific. Regarding Japan, China’s state run tabloid Global Times acknowledged that “Tokyo considers the maritime passage a critical lifeline for its energy security”. The write-up was referring to the Japan’s dependence on imported oil, especially from the Persian Gulf countries, which was transited through the Malacca straits.

On its part, China wants to avoid the Malacca Straits, which is fully covered by the U.S. military footprint. Consequently, it has been investing heavily in energy pipelines from Siberia. China has also has acquired access to an oil and gas terminal in Myanmar to transit part of its energy supplies from West Asia in order to avoid the Malacca trap.

During Malabar-2015, the United States is expected to field Theodore Roosevelt, a 100,000 tonne aircraft carrier. This is in tune with the exercises that were held earlier when aircraft carriers, including Ronald Reagan, George Washington and Carl Vinson participated in the manoeuvres.