India-Japan Naval Malabar Exercise

In recent news, the Times of India headline reads, “India shuns China, allows Japan in Malabar naval drill”. The Malabar naval drill is the two-pronged naval exercise drill between India and United States. This exercise dates by to 1992. There have been more additions to this group with time; they now include Japan, Australia and Singapore. These exercises were stopped in 1998 after India testing nuclear weapons however, resumed after the 9/11 attacks when India and United States joined hands to fight terrorism. Only three drills were carried out prior to 1998.

The ninth naval drill was held in 2007. It was a landmark naval drill as it included all the four countries. The exercise was not conducted in the Indian Ocean but off the cost of a Japanese Island called Okinawa. Moreover, it was the first time that a drill containing 25 naval vessels was undertaken. The US navy contributed 13 warships, India 8 and the remaining were Australia, Japan and Singapore. India’s vessels included INS Mysore, INS Virat, INS Rana, INS Ranjit, INS Jyoti etc.

This meeting saw tensions rise with the Chinese Government, who were upset over the drill being held in the Bay of Bengal. China was some time had been cultivating relations with Bangladesh and Myanmar in order to gain access to the Bay of Bengal. Moreover, it questioned the four country meeting. This was however, met by clarifications that the meeting did not include defence and security agendas.

The Malabar-2015 is to be held in October which will include Japan. This upcoming three tier exercise will be conducted in the Bay of Bengal. Moreover, prior to this, India is to hold spate naval operations with Australia in September (11^th and 12^th) off the Vizag Naval Base. It is likely that Japan become a permanent member of the naval Malabar Exercise said Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Forces (MSDF). Japan was formerly a part of the 2007, 2009 and 2014 drills. The Japanese Fleet will include destroyers and surveillance aircrafts to participate with India and the United States in the mock anti-air and anti-submarine drills.

Japan becoming a permanent member of this naval exercise would open more doors for dialogue between the three countries. This trilateral relation will prove to be beneficial when it comes to discussing and agreeing on policies and actions with regard to security, trade, defence etc.

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