India today rubbished reports that China's warships on anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden caught an Indian Navy submarine snooping on it in the international waters.
Vehemently denying that two Chinese Destroyers had "forced" an Indian submarine to surface, Navy officials here said the vessel "was not Indian" at all. "None of our submarines surfaced in the Gulf of Aden region as reported in a section of the Chinese media," a Navy official said here.
| I'd deny it too whether it happened or not ... |
Chinese newspapers and websites had reported a couple of days ago that their warships sent to fight piracy in waters off Somalia were stalked by an Indian attack submarine and the two sides became locked in a tense stand-off for at least half-an-hour. They also claimed that after rounds of manoeuvring during which both sides tried to test for weaknesses in other's sonar system, the two Chinese warships managed to force the Indian submarine to surface.
Indian Navy, however, said there was no such face-off with the Chinese Navy vessels. "This seems to be a psychological warfare indulged in by the Chinese Navy," an official said.
Asked if the Navy had any submarine currently deployed in the region, officials said they were operating submarines in a range of theatres and that deployment patterns could not be discussed.
| Correct. Submarine deployments, especially, are never discussed. |
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