News Story: Drones, Fighter jets on table as Mattis visits key ally India

By Abhaya SRIVASTAVA

Fighter jets, drone deals and shared concerns over Afghanistan's security look set to dominate the agenda when US Defense Secretary James Mattis visits India this week.

Mattis is scheduled to arrive late Monday and is set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his new defence minister, in the first visit by a top US official since Donald Trump became president in January.

"The United States views India as a valued and influential partner, with broad mutual interests extending well beyond South Asia," a Pentagon statement said.

Trump and Modi met in June in Washington and the visit by Mattis is a sign "the political leadership in both countries place defence cooperation as a top priority", Mukesh Aghi, president of the US India Strategic Partnership Forum, told AFP.

Delhi and Washington share concerns about Afghanistan, with Trump announcing a new strategy for the war-torn country last month which cleared the way for the deployment of thousands more US troops.

The president has urged India to increase assistance to Afghanistan's economy, and has lambasted Delhi's arch-rival Pakistan for offering safe haven to "agents of chaos".

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Report: India Begins Deployment of Submarine in Indian Ocean Region After Long Gap

The Shishumar class attack submarine is being accompanied by two other naval vessels and two maritime patrol aircraft on a month-long mission to enhance cooperation with the countries of the Arabian Sea rim.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — India is deploying an attack submarine to the Western Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean after a long gap. The Indian submarine Shishumar entered Duqm in Oman along with naval ship INS Mumbai and two P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft on Wednesday. Meanwhile, naval ship INS Kochi is on its way to join the fleet.

"Indian Naval Ship Mumbai and submarine Shishumar entered Duqm, Oman as part of this deployment to the Western Arabian Sea, after conducting a series of exercises en-route. An Indian naval submarine is visiting a foreign port after a long gap," the Indian Navy said in a statement.

Think Tank: A contested Asia - What comes after US strategic predominance? (Part 2)

Peter Varghese

PacificSentinel: Part 1 can be found HERE

The concept of a balance of power has lost its appeal to many scholars and practitioners of international relations. But in my view it still matters. I take comfort that the late Lee Kwan Yew, a shrewd observer of our strategic environment, understood both the importance of a balance in Asia and the need to view it as more than just a military balance. Lee observed: ‘In the old concept, balance of power meant largely military power. In today’s terms, it is a combination of economic and military, and I think the economic outweighs the military.’

Already such a de facto balance is in the making through the shared desire of the US, India, Japan and others to balance China. Each has its own geopolitical and historical reasons, of which the non-democratic character of China is by no means the primary driver. This is not a classic balance-of-power grouping. It’s an organic, not an orchestrated arrangement.

Where Korea eventually lines up is an open question. The ROK is an ally of the US. But what would be the disposition of a united Korea? Would it lean towards China or the US? Or, more likely, would it seek an independent path with or without nuclear weapons? A united Korea is likely to be a democracy, which suggests it will at least lean towards balancing China. But no one knows which options will eventuate, which is one reason China doesn’t want to push the North Korean regime to the point of collapse.

News Story: Abe vows to beef up cooperation with India to address N. Korea

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed Tuesday to promote defense and security cooperation with India in light of North Korea's intensifying military activities during his talks with Indian Defense Minister Arun Jaitley.

"Whether North Korea's reckless acts can be stopped or not depends on cooperation of the international community," Abe said at the outset of their meeting at his office in Tokyo. "We would like to change North Korea's policies in close cooperation with India."

The meeting followed North Korea's sixth nuclear test on Sunday, which Pyongyang claimed involved a hydrogen bomb that can be loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile. In July, the North fired two ICBMs.

Jaitley echoed the view, saying, "India has taken a very strong position on the tests conducted recently, in fact we have deplored them in no uncertain language."

The defense minister also said terrorism and proliferation of nuclear technologies and missiles in the Asian region is a "matter of crucial concern for both Japan and India."

Read the full story at The Mainichi

News Report: India Seeks More Maritime Support From Neighbors to Oust China From Indian Ocean

India has been pushing for a collective security mechanism with its maritime neighbors to prevent China from making further inroads into the Indian Ocean region where India has its strategically most important economic zone.

New Delhi (Sputnik) – In view of the increasing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean Region, India is lobbying hard for a consensus among other countries of the region to support India. India’s foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj is in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, where she addressed the inaugural session of the second Indian Ocean conference. She called for the development of a security architecture for collective action.

“We will use our capabilities for the collective well being, and the mutual benefit of our maritime neighbors and island states in building their capabilities. As we envisage the Indian Ocean as an engine for growth and prosperity in our region and beyond, it is of utmost importance that these waters remain safe and secure. We consider it an imperative that those who live in this region bear the primary responsibility for the peace, stability and prosperity of the Indian Ocean,” Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said. 

News Story: Chinese naval fleet stages live-fire drill in Indian Ocean

Chinese Navy Warships (File Photo)

ABOARD CHANGCHUN, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese naval formation consisting of the destroyer Changchun, guided-missile frigate Jingzhou and supply vessel Chaohu conducted a live-fire drill in the waters of the western Indian Ocean, military sources said Friday.

The fleet carried out strikes against "enemy" surface ships and completed transverse replenishment of fuel and drinking water during an exercise that lasted for several days.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: As Beijing Builds Presence in Indian Ocean, New Delhi Shops for New Submarines

India is seeking to have six non-nuclear submarines built as part of a $12 billion defense program, and has sent a request for information to six foreign shipyards asking if they could fill that order.

France, Germany, Russia Japan and other nations were asked whether they had the capacity to build vessels equipped with air-independent-propulsion systems, which could replace diesel-electric systems by allowing the submarines to operate without access to atmospheric oxygen. 

Retired Indian navy commodore and defense analyst Anil Jai Singh told Defense News that India is looking for "a proven, effective, state-of-the-art, electric heavyweight torpedo; a land attack missile, and perhaps even an underwater-to-air missile against enemy helicopters and mines."

News Story: Sri Lanka completes controversial $1 billion port deal with China

By Amal JAYASINGHE

Sri Lanka on Saturday sealed a billion-dollar deal to let a Chinese state firm take over a loss-making port in a move that worries many, including its giant neighbour India.

The long-delayed $1.1 billion sale of a 70 percent stake in Hambantota port, which straddles the world's busiest east-west shipping route, was confirmed by Sri Lanka's Ports Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe.

The government used tough laws against industrial action to stop workers going on strike this week to oppose the sale to China Merchants Port Holdings.

India is nervous about China's infrastructure moves into its traditional sphere of influence.

"We have addressed geo-political concerns," the minister said at a signing ceremony in Colombo. "China has accepted that everything in this agreement will operate under Sri Lankan law."

Negotiations over the deal were held up for months amid opposition from trade unions and political parties.

The minister said this week that several countries had raised fears about the sale. India and the United States are known to be concerned that China getting a foothold at the deep-sea port could give it a military naval advantage in the Indian Ocean.

Samarasinghe said that Hambantota, 240 kilometres (150 miles) south of Colombo, will not be a military base for any country.

China Merchants built and operates Sri Lanka's only major deep-sea terminal in Colombo, which can accommodate the world's largest container carriers.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Report: China Won’t Get Port for Naval Base, Sri Lanka Assures India

China will not be able to use the Hambantota port in southern Sri Lanka as a naval base and limit its presence to commercial activities as part of a revised agreement approved by the Sri Lankan government on Tuesday, allaying strategic concerns raised by India.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — As part of the revised pact, the Sri Lankan government has limited the role of the Chinese to just commercial operations, while retaining oversight of security operations at the port. The earlier terms of the agreement had sparked a controversy and protests in the island nation.

“Some [diplomatic] missions here were worried that the port would be used as a military naval base. As per the revised agreement, Sri Lanka will manage the port security. Our foreign policy today is reaching out to everyone and not giving special treatment to anyone,” The Hindu quoted Mahinda Samarasinghe, Sri Lankan Ports Minister, as saying.

The strategically located port was built with Chinese loans in 2010 during President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure. In 2016, the Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe government decided to sell 80% stake in the port to the state-run China Merchants Port Holdings in order to service the massive $8 billion debt the island nation owes to China.

USA: U.S.-India Defense Relationship on Positive Trajectory, DoD Official Says

By Terri Moon Cronk 

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, July 14, 2017 — The defense relationship between the United States and India is positive and has come a long way in two decades, Cara Abercrombie, deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, said today.

Abercrombie discussed the defense and security relationship between the two nations during a panel at the 2017 Global Business Forum in New York City.

The topic comes two weeks after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi here to discuss the importance of the U.S.-India relationship, and the role of both nations in cooperating to foster democratic laws and principles. During the meeting, Mattis applauded India's long-term efforts to promote stability in the Indian Ocean region and the two leaders pledged to continue the strong defense partnership between both nations and broaden military-to-military engagements.

“Back in early 2000s, defense trade [between India and the U.S.] was zero dollars. We’re now at $15 billion in a relatively short period of time,” Abercrombie said. “We’ve made huge progress, but we’ve just scratched the surface of the potential of this relationship.”

News Report: India's Naval Drills With US, Japan Point to Rivalry With China in Asia-Pacific

India is seeking to assert itself as a long-term rival of China in the Asia-Pacific region, by conducting a joint naval exercise with the United States and Japan, amid escalating border dispute with its eastern neighbor, experts told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Tommy Yang — India kicked off its annual trilateral joint naval exercise, known as Malabar 2017, with the United States and Japan in the Indian Ocean on Monday. The military drills came as an intense standoff at the border region between India and China showed no sign of cooling off, after clashes between troops of the two Asian countries started in mid-June.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi started to introduce an assertive foreign policy to challenge China’s growing dominance in the Asia-Pacific region, after taking office in May 2014. The current sequence of escalating tensions between to two Asian nations is just continuation of the intensifying India-China rivalry, international relations experts told Sputnik.

News Report: With Eye on China, India, US and Japan Conduct Naval Drills

Anjana Pasricha

In a signal of deepening military cooperation between India, the United States and Japan, the three countries have deployed some of their largest warships and submarines in the Indian Ocean for an annual naval exercise that is conducted with an eye on China.

The naval drills have expanded in the last two years amid growing concerns over Chinese maritime assertiveness not just in South China Sea, but also in the Indian Ocean.

The Malabar exercises are the most visible symbol of New Delhi’s strengthening security ties with the United States, which were reaffirmed last month by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Exercise expands

This year’s weeklong maneuvers on the high seas, which began Monday, involve more than 15 warships, including the US nuclear powered aircraft carrier, USS Nimitz, India's aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, and Japan’s largest warship, the JS Izumo.

The focus this year is on anti-submarine warfare.

News Report: War Games - China Fumes at US, India, Japan Joint Naval Exercises

The 16th annual Malabar Naval Exercises between the United States, India and Japan will begin on Monday, July 9, and go until Tuesday the 17th. This year’s drills will come amid reports of increased Chinese activity in the Indian Ocean.

US ships involved in the exercises include the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its attached Carrier Air Wing Eleven, the cruiser USS Princeton and the guided missile destroyers USS Howard, USS Kidd and USS Shoup. Also involved are a Boeing P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine plane and a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine, according to a US Navy statement. This totals about 6,500 US Navy personnel.

The Indian Navy, meanwhile, is sending their sole aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya, to participate in the exercises. It will also include two Shivalik-class multi-role frigates, a Kora-class missile frigate, two destroyers, anti-submarine corvettes, the tanker INS Jyoti, a P-8I Poseidon aircraft and a nuclear submarine. 

The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces will deploy the JS Izumo, the de facto flagship of their fleet, to the exercises. The Izumo is a helicopter carrier and the fleet's largest vessel. They are also sending the destroyer JS Sazanami.

News Report: China Deploys Submarine, Spy Ship in Indian Ocean Ahead of Major Naval Exercise

A week before the trilateral naval exercise between India, the US and Japan begins in the Indian Ocean, China sent its Yuan class conventional diesel-electric submarine in the Indian Ocean with submarine support vessel Chongmingdao and intelligence-gathering ship Haiwingxing.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — Naval officials in Delhi downplay this deployment but 13 Chinese naval ships, tracked over the last two months by Indian naval satellite GSAT-7 and long-range maritime patrol aircraft like P-8I, must raise alarm bells for Indian authorities when both the nations have been engaged in a war of words and tensions on the eastern border. The India-US-Japan Malabar exercise in the Bay of Bengal is scheduled to begin next week.

"Usually, Chinese submarines have a three-month long deployment in the Indian Ocean. This is routine. The submarine's presence has nothing to do with the present situation and it has been present in the Indian Ocean for a while now," an Indian Navy official told IANS.

News Report: To Some, Chinese Forays in Disputed Seas Ring of Harmless National Pride

Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI — China's growing use of advanced technology in a disputed Asian sea may be meant more to inspire its citizens and get respect from abroad than to double down on disputed sovereignty claims as feared by other countries, scholars and Chinese media reports say.

Maritime scholars believe these scientific advances will hand information to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, bolstering control over its claims over about 90 percent of the 3.5 square-million-kilometer South China Sea. But China is also looking to show citizens it can make achievements, some believe.

It may also be trying to impress other countries after a sting from the world court last year.

“We shouldn't forget that tucked away there are these marine scientists, who they may not have control of policy, but they're scientists like anyone else,” said Euan Graham, international security director with the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney. “We shouldn't tar them as being foot soldiers or proxies.”

News Report: India, US to Jointly Ensure Stability in South China Sea, Indo-Pacific Region

India and the US have vowed to promote stability and ensure the freedom of navigation across the Indo-Pacific region

New Delhi (Sputnik) — Experts said the development is significant as it reinforces American commitment in ensuring the balance of power in the region where China has emerged as a dominant power.

A joint statement issued after the meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump’s maiden meeting on Monday in the White House said the two sides will forge close ties to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

“As responsible stewards in the Indo-Pacific region, President Trump and Prime Minister Modi agreed that a close partnership between the United States and India is central to peace and stability in the region,” the joint statement read.

In their discussion, Modi and Trump reiterated their commitment to the “tenets outlined in the UN Charter, they committed to a set of common principles for the region (Indo-Pacific), according to which sovereignty and international law are respected and every country can prosper.”

News Story: In blow to Britain, UN votes to seek legal opinion on Chagos (Diego Garcia) fate

Diego Garcia (Image: Wiki Commons)

By Carole LANDRY

In a diplomatic blow to Britain, the United Nations voted Thursday to ask the International Court of Justice to rule on the fate of the British-ruled Chagos islands, which host an important military base.

The Indian Ocean archipelago has been at the center of a decades-long dispute over Britain's decision to separate it from Mauritius in 1965 and set up a joint military base with the US on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands.

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution presented by Mauritius and backed by African countries asking the ICJ to offer an opinion on the island chain's fate.

The measure was approved by a vote of 94-15 with 65 abstentions, notably from many European countries including Germany and France.

The vote was seen as a test of Britain's ability to rally support at the United Nations from fellow Europeans after it voted to leave the European Union.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Report: China Backs India's Tsunami Warning System in The South China Sea

India’s plans to establish a tsunami warning system in the South China Sea has received China’s backing. Beijing says the proposal can be considered a part of its existing mechanism which is in operation since last year.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The Chinese response comes after India became a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kazakhstan's capital Astana late last week with the backing of both China and Russia.

"Strengthening the tsunami early warning research conforms to the interests of all parties. China and the relevant countries in the region in accordance with the requirements of the United Nations agencies, in the South China Sea, have established the related facilities and systems. The parties concerned can discuss relevant cooperation issues under the existing cooperation mechanisms," PTI quoted a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

News Report: India Deploys Warship to Monitor Marine Traffic in Malacca Strait

The Indian Navy has deployed a warship near the Strait of Malacca on a permanent basis to monitor the world’s busiest shipping route from its western edge. The ship was deployed last week and will remain in international waters for a longer period to patrol the area.

New Delhi (Sputnik) – The decision to monitor movement on this strategically important shipping route is a result of the increased presence of Chinese submarines in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). India's aircraft, which was deployed to check piracy activities, intercepted a Yuan class conventional submarine in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands near the Strait of Malacca in April this year.

“It’s not for patrol or deployment, but only for awareness of the busiest sea lane of communication that passes through these straits,” The Tribune quoted a top naval source.

AUS: RAAF P-8A Poseidon completes first overseas deployment

Australia's 1st P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft

A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P-8A Poseidon has completed its first deployment to Royal Malaysian Air Force Base (RMAF) Butterworth as part of Operation GATEWAY.

The Poseidon was deployed to Malaysia in support of the Operational Test and Evaluation of the P-8A as it is introduced to service. This deployment was a key milestone on the path to declaring Initial Operating Capability (IOC) for the aircraft and its system over the next 12 months.

The Poseidon’s predecessor, the AP‑3C Orion, has operated from RMAF Butterworth for a number of decades as part of the bilateral Malaysian and Australian Operation GATEWAY.

Operation GATEWAY is Australia's enduring contribution to the preservation of regional security and stability in South East Asia. The operation provides maritime surveillance patrols in the North Indian Ocean and South China Sea.