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| India-Pakistan |
| India offers to help safeguard Malacca Strait |
| 2006-06-03 |
| Blood vessels bursting in Beijing SINGAPORE: India on Saturday offered to help safeguard the strategic Malacca Strait and backed a major East-Asian security initiative to enforce "compulsory pilotage" of the channel against pirates and maritime terror. Outlining New Delhi's support to the initiative mooted jointly by Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India was willing to assist in the project and share its expertise in maritime security with nations of the region. "India welcomes the three nation initiative on monitoring shipping through compulsory pilotage project of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia," Mukherjee said in his speech at the Shangri La dialogue here. "Subject to the desire of the littoral states, as a major user-state, India would be willing to assist the project to whatever capacity is deemed suitable" the Defence Minister told eminent security experts gathered here for the 5th international Asia Security Summit. With more than 50 per cent of India's maritime trade passing through the channel, security of the straits is important for India. The Malacca Strait is one of the world's most important and busy waterways with 50,000 ships passing through it each year. Mukherjee said "other Asia-Pacific countries like Japan, China and South Korea are more dependent on the safe and secure passage through the Straits, where in recent years piracy has posed a major challenge", and hoped maritime terrorism does not follow closely behind". The Defence Minister spoke after the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had told strategic experts from Asia, Pacific and Europe that America would remain engaged in the region. Observing that there was a need to increase and strengthen regional cooperation to enhance maritime security, he said India has been working with the nations of the region, both bilaterally and multilaterally through forums such as ASEAN Regional Forum to further strengthen East-Asian sea lane safety. This coordination, he said, had to be enhanced. "Otherwise as we have seen in the USS Cole bombing incident and recent attacks faced by the Sri Lankan Navy vessels" that a small incident can cause considerable loss of lives and equipment. The Minister also backed the move to set up a Regional Marine Training centre, saying it would help in evolving common operating procedures for the Navies of the region. He also said that New Delhi was taking steps to join the Container Security initiative and had identified the Nava Sheva port, near Mumbai. |
| Posted by:john |
| #7 Iff the Commies-Maoists and aligned succeed in taking over India, + THailand + Malaysia-Indonesia, "INDIA" = NORTH KOREA, [etal?] > same as saying COMMIE CHINA controls or helps "secure" the Malaccas. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-06-03 21:31 |
| #6 Read Phil_B's book "Sea of Fire" It deals with this area and is an excellant read. And, no, I haven't been paid to push the book. It is a good read. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2006-06-03 19:49 |
| #5 and the only non-amusement park carrier in the region! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-06-03 17:31 |
| #4 We need to sell the Indians the Kitty Hawk when it is retired. True, it will not carry the most modern naval aircraft, but the ones it can carry make it ideal for the Malacca Strait. Plus, it would piss off the Chinese to no end - the Indians being the first ones with a functional area coverage carrier in the Strait. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2006-06-03 17:07 |
| #3 Good, more proof that India is ready to step up and be a major regional player. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2006-06-03 12:47 |
| #2 Mukherjee said "other Asia-Pacific countries like Japan, China and South Korea are more dependent on the safe and secure passage through the Straits, where in recent years piracy has posed a major challenge", and hoped maritime terrorism does not follow closely behind". indeed, on both points. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-06-03 12:06 |
| #1 And just in time... Air Force version of BrahMos getting ready HYDERABAD: The design and initial development of the Air Force version of the BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile have been completed. The system is to be fitted into Sukhoi-30 by the end of next year. A. Sivathanu Pillai, CEO & MD of BrahMos Aerospace, an Indo-Russian Joint Venture, told The Hindu here on Friday that the feasibility of incorporating the Air Force version of the missile was complete. The army version would be inducted in two years. He said the missile had already been installed on one ship and all ships in the future would be fitted with it. As a first step, three Talwar class ships being built by Russia for the Indian navy would be fitted with the missile. |
| Posted by: john 2006-06-03 11:47 |