The Hindu : National : Naval exercise with U.S. will only be bilateral

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Naval exercise with U.S. will only be bilateral

Sandeep Dikshit

Policy decision taken to avoid criticism and keep tradition: Antony

NEW DELHI: Defence Minister A. K. Antony on Wednesday said this year’s Malabar series of naval exercise with the U.S. would not involve warships of any other country. v

Last year’s Malabar exercise in the Bay of Bengal was an aberration in which besides the U.S., warships from Australia, Singapore, and Japan participated, leading to a political controversy and earning all the countries a demarche from China.

Mr. Antony pointed out the Malabar series was not new but had been continuing for the past 16 years. Last year’s exercise marked a break from the previous editions only in that there were more countries participating. But now a policy decision had been taken to keep the exercises bilateral.

Last year, some people said it sent a message. The Malabar series of Indo-U.S. naval exercise invited a lot of criticism. Why should some people try to spread misinformation? Only last year, something different happened. Instead of an Indo-U.S. bilateral exercise, a multilateral exercise took place. This year, there is no multilateral exercise. It would be a bilateral one, similar to what has been happening for the last 16 years, the Minister said after attending the annual Coast Guard Commanders’ conference here.

On his recent visit to the U.S., the Minister said he interacted with his U.S. counterpart, Defence Secretary Robert Gates, on defence relations and the security scenario, mainly in the neighbourhood. There is nothing secret. It was a return visit. Mr. Gates was here and during his visit he invited [me]. After going back he wrote to me again inviting me and I thought I must respond to that. It was mainly a goodwill and return visit.

Asked about the upcoming visit of Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, he pointed out that New Delhi’s defence relationship with Moscow was unique. Mr. Serdyukov was coming here to co-chair the meeting of the Inter-Governmental Commission for Military and Technical Cooperation. Russia, he said, is the only country with which India has this kind of commission with Defence Ministers of both countries as Chairmen.

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