China to attend int’l fleet review in Mumbai

NEW DELHI, SEPT 29: China has assured India that it will attend the international fleet review being organised in Mumbai in February 2001....

NEW DELHI, SEPT 29: China has assured India that it will attend the international fleet review being organised in Mumbai in February 2001. The verbal assurance came in Shanghai where the Indian Navy carried out ceremonial exercises with China.

However, Germany, Chile, Denmark and Italy are among the countries which will not be coming due to previous engagements. As of now, 26 foreign ships from 22 countries will be attending the fleet review, Rear Admiral Suresh Bangara, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Operations) said today.

The fleet review is a major step in the enhancement of maritime diplomacy. The Indian Navy already trains naval forces from 26 countries and hopes that its influence and acceptability will increase with the international fleet review to be held from February 15-19.

Story continues below this ad

Though China objects to the presence of Indian Navy exercises in the South China Sea, it accorded a very warm welcome to the Navy and assured them that they would send ships for the international fleet review. “For the first time, the Chinese Navy opened up to the Indian Navy and even brought out a first-day cover on the Sino-Indian Navy exercises,” he added.

Regarding the missing Indian sailor from INS Delhi, who jumped ship in Sasebo, Japan, Bangara said that these sort of things happen all the time. “There is nothing alarming in this. Sailors have fallen in love and got married to women in UK and other countries since the ’50s. There are times when they return — like the sailor on board INS Mysore (who jumped ship in USA) — and at other times they don’t,” he said, adding: “The ship does not wait and we leave it to the Indian mission to sort out matters,”.

Talking of maritime diplomacy, Bangara said that the trips to China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia have brought very positive results and are a step in the right direction. “This time, all the ships that went for port visits to the South-East and Far Eastern countries were indigenously built (barring INS Rajput, which is Russian) and the Chinese and the Japanese appreciated the advancement in the Indian ship-building industry,” Bangara said. They also appreciated the way the Navy handled the typhoons that hit the Chinese coast during their visit.

Replying to a question, Bangara denied that Israelis were operating off the Indian coast in the Indian ocean.