MALDIVES’ SNUB TO INDIAN NAVY
NEW DELHI: Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba seemed to indirectly warn Maldives of getting too close to China in a speech on Tuesday, even as he separately said the island nation refused to be part of an India-led naval exercise.
Lanba cautioned “weaker nations” to be watchful of the “intent under the garb of cooperation” of their economically and militarily superior partners.
His comments, in the presence of defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, come at a time when relations between India and the Maldives are frosty and China is making aggressive efforts to increase influence in the Indian Ocean region, including the archipelago, where Beijing plans to set up an observatory post.
“Opaqueness of intent on the part of certain powerful nations can gradually jeopardise the very sovereignty of the weaker partner,” Lanba said in his opening address at the Indo-pacific Regional Dialogue on Tuesday.
Lanba didn’t name China or the Maldives in his speech before an international audience. He later told reporters the Maldives declined an invite to the Milan exercise being held off the Andamans in early March without giving any reason.
Reacting to Lanba’s comment, the Maldives embassy in New Delhi said the country “is unable to participate in the naval exercise during this time due to the current circumstances of a state of emergency”.
India has sent out invites to 23 countries of which 16 have confirmed their participation.
India’s ties with the Maldives that have frayed in recent years, worsened after the Indian Ocean nation imposed emergency and cracked down on the judiciary, refusing to implement a Supreme Court order to set political prisoners free.
India also refused to entertain a Maldivian special envoy sent to New Delhi. Beijing welcomed him, though; China has been steadily increasing its economic and military influence in Maldives.
“Political, economic and military cooperation between two states to promote development and security will always be welcome.
However, when such transnational activities take place between two economically and militarily unequal partners, the weaker nation must be watchful of any clear intent under the garb of cooperation,” said Lanba, who is India’s senior-most military commander as chairman of the chiefs of staff committee.
He said cooperation between two states on a particular issue could also have an “indirect negative bearing on a third”. The navy chief said India’s overseas interactions have always been based on the principles of “sovereignty, equality and mutual respect”.
Recent churning of the global order has prompted many countries to pursue aggressive international cooperation to seek new alignments in support of their national interests, he said. “However, with multiple states pursuing parallel ambitions, cooperation agenda is getting coloured with competition.”
Steps being taken by China to increase its footprint in the Indian Ocean are being duly noted by India.
“They have six to eight warships deployed in the Indian Ocean at any given time. We know what is happening there and we keep an eye on them,” said Lanba, stressing there had been no significant change in the Chinese deployment pattern over the past couple of years.