India, Japan navies conduct exercise in the Indian Ocean

This comes amidst talk of quad front comprising India, Japan, US & Australia

At a time when both India and Japan are facing hostility from China, warships from Indian Navy and Japanese Navy (Japan Maritime Self Defense Force-JMSDF) conducted a joint exercise in the Indian Ocean on Saturday.

This comes amidst talks of a possible emergence of a front comprising India, Japan, US and Australia to counter Chinese Navy’s threat in the region.

JMSDF’s training squadron ships JS Kashima and JS Shimayuki took part in the maritime exercise while from Indian Navy, INS Rana and INS Kulish were involved in the day-long exercise.

“On June 27, Japan Maritime Self Defense Force conducted goodwill training with Indian

Navy in the Indian Ocean,” tweeted Japanese Ambassador Satoshi Suzuki. This is the 15th training exercise between JMSDF and Indian Navy in the last three years.

“The focus of the exercise was interoperability between the two navies,” said sources.

Japan had backed India during the Doklam standoff with China and had condoled the death of 20 Indian soldiers in Galwan Valley during a clash with Chinese soldiers.

The latest exercise assumes significance as China is trying to increase its military presence in the region and when China is testing its neighbours, including India and Japan.

Due to the India-China standoff in Ladakh, Indian Navy is on a high alert and it has deployed its assets to thwart any likely misadventure by

Chinese Navy.

There is also growing tension between Japan and China over Senkaku islands. In recent days, Chinese coast guard vessels repeatedly intruded into Japanese waters near the islands.

Chinese state-owned Global Times on Sunday reported that Chinese Navy will be conducting military exercises in waters off the disputed Xisha Islands in the South China Sea from Wednesday to July 5 to send a signal to its rivals in the region.

Last September, navies from India, US and Japan had conducted a joint exercise called “Malabar” in Sasebo. The Malabar exercise started in 1992 as a bilateral one between Indian and US navies in the Indian Ocean. Japan became a permanent member of the Malabar exercise in 2015.