Indian warship to take part in Chinese exercise along with Pak

BEIJING: India’s indigenously built stealth frigate INS Shivalik will exercise on Chinese waters alongside ships from Pakistan, China and a number of other countries later this month to celebrate the People’s Liberation A r my ( PLA ) Navy ’ s 65th Founding Day.

The coming exercise will be held in Qingdao, a Chinese port city, on April 23 and 24. It is rare for the PLA, world’s largest army, and the Indian armed forces to take part in joint exercises. In November last year, the two armies carried out a joint anti-

INDIA’S INS SHIVALIK WILL EXERCISE ALONGSIDE SHIPS FROM PAKISTAN, CHINA AND A NUMBER OF OTHER COUNTRIES

terrorism exercise in southwest China only for the third time in their history.

Formal exercises and interactions between the two navies, among the fastest growing in the region, take place seldom though the two are known to cooperate in anti-piracy operations.

In fact, in June, 2012, Shivalik was the flagship vessel that had lead four Indian Navy warships to the Shanghai port; it was for the first time that four Indian warships had made a port call in a Chinese city.

A PLA navy warship had then escorted the Shivalik as it had made its way across international waters of the South China sea from Philippines to South Korea, surprising many on the Indian ship.

In September 2011, Indian navy’s Airavat was warned by an unidentified Chinese warship that it was entering Chinese waters as the Indian vessel was making its way from one Vietnamese port to another.