Malabar naval exercise rattles China

There is something interesting going on in the Bay of Bengal giving a major worry to China. The first phase of the Malabar naval exercise kicked off on November 3, marking the biggest such joint exercise of India, the United States, Japan and Australia in a decade.

The Malabar exercise this year is especially significant with the participation of Australia, thus covering all member of the Quad, an informal group of the four largest democracies in the Indo-Pacific region.

This is also the first military-level engagement among all the four member countries , primarily focusing on checking China’s increasing military muscle-flexing.

US Navy ship USS John S McCain (Guided-missile destroyer), Australian Navy Ship HMAS Ballarat (long- range frigate) and Japan Maritime Self Defence Ship ( JMSDF) Ship JS Onami (destroyer) are participating along with Navy units.

Malabar exercise is a multilateral naval exercise that includes simulated war games and combat manoeuvres. It started in 1992 between the Indian and US navies. Japan joined in 2015.
This year, the exercise will be held in two phases, the first from November 3 to 6 off the coast near Vishakapatnam and the second from November 17 to 20 in the Arabian Sea.

According to the Defence Ministry, the exercise this year has been planned on a ‘non-contact- at sea’ format in view of the covid-19 pandemic. This means there will be no contact among military personnel of the four countries.

China is rattled by participation of four leading global powers in the annual exercise. It said that the drill should be conducive to regional peace. They worry that the annual war game is an attempt to contain its influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

The exercise comes at a time when the ties of all the four participating countries with China are under strain. Especially India is locked in the worst border deadlock with China in decades.

US and Australia’s relations with China have deteriorated recently over a range of issues including the Covid-19 pandemic and economic sanctions.

Japan meanwhile has a dispute with China over ownership of islands in the East China Sea.