New Delhi: Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi Monday hit out at Pakistan’s cooperation with China in relation to its “surprising” naval expansion, saying Islamabad was choosing “weapons over welfare”. However, he added that the Indian Navy was tweaking its operational plans to take this expansion into account.
Admiral Tripathi was speaking at a press meet in New Delhi.
On Pakistan’s efforts to bolster its forces, he said that a lot of the neighbouring country’s ships and submarines were being built in China or with China’s help, be it in a Karachi shipyard or elsewhere. He added that this meant China was “definitely interested” in making the Pakistan Navy stronger. He referred to the latter constructing eight new submarines, which would significantly add to the combat potential of the force.
However, the Indian Navy is “fully aware” of the goings-on in the Pakistan Navy, including the state and level of deployment of forces, and keeps track of Pakistan’s operations, the admiral said. It is, therefore, always acting to negate any infringement in India’s area of operations and is fully ready to tackle all threats from the neighbouring countries, he added.
Commenting on China’s forays into the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), he said the Indian Navy was keeping a close watch on overall maritime activities in the IOR, including that of the People’s Liberation Army Navy ships, as well as Chinese research and satellite tracking vessels.
The last known visit of a Chinese submarine to the IOR was last year. It travelled to Karachi and back, Admiral Tripathi added.
He also said that the rise of China’s navy would manifest more in the Pacific Ocean, but the Indian Navy was keeping watch to ensure that India’s interests are not affected in the IOR and beyond.
“We will ensure that there is no effect on our interests in the maritime domain by any navy or any country. We are aware of the surprising growth of the Pakistan Navy and they aim to become a 50-ship force by the next decade,” he added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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