Days after the Russian Pacific Fleet and Myanmar rehearsed fending off assaults in their first-ever maritime exercise and after India and the US promised security cooperation, the Chinese and Pakistani warships are conducting week-long manoeuvres in the Arabian Sea.
The Chinese and Pakistani navy began the exercise in the northern Arabian Sea’s water and airspace on Saturday at a naval facility in Karachi. The manoeuvres included anti-submarine operations. The last day of the exercise is Nov. 17.
China and Pakistan will undertake cooperative marine patrols for the first time during the drill, according to a Monday article from the People’s Liberation Army Daily.
Following “the first Russian-Myanmar naval exercise in modern history,” which took place in the Andaman Sea on the northeastern edge of the Indian Ocean from November 7–9, Moscow describes the current exercise as a significant step forward for Russia’s naval presence in a sea that the US considers to be among its global security interests.
According to the Interfax news agency, two sizable Russian anti-submarine vessels, Admiral Tributs and Admiral Panteleyev, practised last week with a frigate and a corvette from the Myanmar navy.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin conducted defence discussions on Nov. 10 in New Delhi with their Indian counterparts amidst the drive for greater security relations between China and Pakistan and Russia and Myanmar.
The governments of the United States and India conveyed their profound worry on the conflict in Ukraine in a joint statement following the “2+2 Dialogue,” although they omitted any specific reference to Russia. Additionally, they vowed to protect an open and free Indo-Pacific.
New Delhi has progressively strengthened its connections with Washington while carefully maintaining its long-standing contacts with Russia, particularly defence cooperation.
Additionally, China was left out of the joint statement, despite an official from the Indian government having stated prior to the discussions that China would be one of the “key focus points”.
The cautious handling of those discussions is in advance of this week’s much awaited meeting in San Francisco, where it is anticipated that Washington would attempt to resume military-to-military relations with Beijing, between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden.
