Posted on 03/21/2014 12:01:56 AM PDT by cold start
India has rejected a Chinese request to enter territorial waters in the Andaman Sea in an effort to search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 over concerns that the request might be an excuse for military snooping.
“There was no need for anybody else to search the area,” Press Trust of India, the country’s largest news agency, quoted unidentified government sources as saying.
India thus “politely rejected” the Chinese request to allow People’s Liberation Army Navy shifts enter waters near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The request was made on Wednesday and entailed the dispatch of four ships, including two frigates and a salvage vessel. We don’t want Chinese warships sniffing around in the area on the pretext of hunting for the missing jetliner or anti-piracy patrols. Unnamed Indian military official
It came on the same day PLA Navy spokesman Liang Yang said Chinese search efforts would shift westwards and focus on two areas: the Andaman Sea and waters southwest of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
India has already deployed its coast guard, four warships and three military aircraft to search the Andaman Sea for clues over the plane’s whereabouts, an unnamed navy officer told the Times of India, the country’s most-widely read English-language newspaper.
Two further Indian aircraft are set to join the international search force based in Malaysia on Friday, the paper reporter.
Three Chinese military aircraft left Sanya, Hainan province, for Malaysia on Friday morning to join the search effort, according to a statement on the Ministry of Defence website.
A special unit was established at the the Chinese air force headquarters on Thursday to oversee the search missions. The participation of the Chinese military had been approved by the Malaysian authorities, the online statement by the ministry's spokesman Colonel Shen Jinke said.
Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research, said he considered the Chinese request "unusual", since Indian ships were altready scouring the area requested by the PLA. "China should not use a tragedy to gain access for naval probing," he said.
Chinese military vessels already are a regular presence in the Indian Ocean’s international waters. Indian military observers have in the past raised concerns over Chinese encroachment in India’s regional sphere of influence.
“We don’t want Chinese warships sniffing around in the area on the pretext of hunting for the missing jetliner or anti-piracy patrols,” an unnamed official told the Times of India.
Last month, China’s largest amphibious landing ship, the Changbaishan， and two destroyers conducted an exercise focused on anti-piracy in the Indian Ocean.
On Thursday, China’s President Xi Jinping told India’s new ambassador to the country Ashok K Kantha that he was a proponent of advancing bilateral ties, which have been mired in territorial disputes in the Himalayas and India’s hospitality for the Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
“Furthering strategic partnership with India is my historic mission,” Xi told the ambassador, Reuters reported.
Most of the 227 people on board on the missing Malaysian airliner are Chinese, 12 are Indian citizens.
The search has since focused on an area in the southern Indian Ocean 2,260km off the coast of Perth, Australia, where satellite imagery found two large floating objects.
Five Chinese ships are on route to the site, the country’s National Maritime Search and Rescue Centre said on Friday. The Chinese ice breaker Xuelong, currently at harbour in Perth, is set to join the search effort as soon as possible, the Xinhua news agency said.
The press sections of the Chinese embassy in New Delhi and the Indian embassy in Beijing could not be reached for immediate comment.
Malaysia Airlines MH370 search: India to deploy P-8I, C-130J planes
New Delhi: India’s operation to search the missing Malaysian airliner will go beyond its maritime zone on Friday when it will deploy two aircraft including the P-8I and the C-130J planes in Malaysia.
India has been part of international operations to locate the plane which has been missing for around two weeks now after taking off from Kuala Lumpur but the area being scoured is limited so far to the Indian waters.
“One P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft along with one IAF C-130J aircraft are being deployed to Malaysia. These aircraft would be joining the International Search Force by Friday noon,” a Navy release said.
The search for the missing aircraft has shifted to the Indian Ocean Region 5,000 km south of Jakarta and the operations to search the area had resumed on Wednesday.
The force has also deployed four warships INS Satpura, Sahyadri, Saryu and Batti Malv in the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Sea and West of Andaman Islands.
“In coordination of the surface search by ships, extensive air searches are also being conducted. One P-8I with Electro Optics/Infra Red pods, one C 130J Hercules aircraft (of Indian Air Force) and one Dornier aircraft are undertaking searches in the area,” the Navy said.
The navy said Indian forces are in continuous touch with the Royal Malaysian Navy and Air Force from its Maritime Operations Centre at Navy headquarters and all possible help is being rendered towards search and rescue operations for MH 370.
India...God love ‘em...could screw up public relations at a cash give-away contest.
Turning down China’s request was amateurish.
Regional politics is playing a HUGE part in the search for this airplane, and it’s been a huge obstruction.
No one trusts anyone, and no one wants to give away military secrets (or the lack of them) to help.
So you trust the Chinese?
If India has already searched the area then why does China think it needs to again, unless they don’t trust the Indians? And in that case why should the Indians trust the Chinese?
Would the US allow Russia to “search” for lost planes near Hawaii? Didnt think so.. same logic applies here. Hawaii has a huge base. The Andaman & Nicobar Islands have the Indian Navy HQ there as well as a listening post and no sane country would allow another country with which it has fought wars with to come in that close with military vessels.
Ixia says no go to china
Their country, their decision.
With submarine warfare as big as it is, China’s offer would allow them to make excellent charts for use in future conflicts.
IMHO, the Indians were right to say, “No, thanks.”
So they have their own Eric Holders’ too huh?
oh, wait, he can't because
there are two Democrat party fundraisers going on in Florida and the NCAA basketball games are going on....
Priorities.
They probably had a very good reason though since the Chinese would undoubtedly take the opportunity to spy on the Indians.
Would you allow your seedy neighbors down the block into your house to find out what you own?
The Indians have just demonstrated they understand who their neighbors are and aren’t about to let them in their house to find out what they own.
The Chinese asked so they could spy.
Same thing happened. Was that a public relations nightmare too? Nope, just good old fashion cold war politics at its finest.
This is the same.
Contrary to what liberals think, Indians and Chinese have hated each others guts for almost eight hundred years.
Think Mongol invasion using Chinese troops and two wars post 1946 independence.
Nope... Just a very valid fear of the Chinese.
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