The recently concluded naval exercises between India and China were the first of their kind between the two neighbours. What is all the more remarkable is how quickly both countries have moved beyond the unpleasantness that followed India?s nuclear tests in 1998. Indeed, the fact that the exercises have been held during the tenure of the same Indian Defence Minister speaks volumes of the pragmatism that now drives policy on both sides. This is especially so for the Chinese, who hosted Mr. George Fernandes earlier in April and now have conducted joint exercises with India. Indeed, that is not all; a high-level army team from India is presently on a visit to China that will cover Tibet and a joint air force exercise is also being discussed involving the PLAAF?s Sukhoi 27s and the IAF?s Sukhoi 30 MKIs.

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While these events indicate a positive upswing in relations, there is perhaps a need to examine more closely the Chinese opinions on the matter as reflected in the state-run, English-language newspapers, the People's Daily and the China Daily. Both papers pointed out that the naval exercises were a sign of improving bilateral relations considering the long-standing boundary dispute between them but the China Daily also went on to state that the improving relations would allow China to ?play a more constructive role in creating a benign atmosphere for India-Pakistan negotiations that may lead to peaceful solutions in their decades-long problems.?

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In an interview with the commander of the Indian naval fleet for the joint exercise, Rear Admiral R P Suthan, the People's Daily reporter had some pointed questions to ask: was the political significance greater than the military significance? Why was the best destroyer in the Indian Navy, the INS Delhi, not sent in place of the INS Ranjit? And, did India view China as a ?threat, a natural rival? Or a cooperator [sic]?? It was also at this time that a spate of articles appeared in the Indian press about India?s supposed acquisition of a military base in Tajikistan. The Chinese press did not miss this event and referred to it in a People?s Daily article on 15 November. Also, just days after the Indian ships had turned homeward, the same paper came out with a report, apparently quoting Indian media sources, which stated that the Indian Navy was planning to build a base on the Andaman Islands for unmanned reconnaissance planes with a view to watching the activities of the Chinese navy in the region.

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Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had agreed to the naval exercises during his visit to Beijing in June. The Indian Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Madhvendra Singh?s statement on the naval exercises, that appeared in the Indian press, ?I will not say that it is purely an Indian initiative? gives the impression that it was the Chinese who were the more eager party to holding the joint exercises. But according to China's Extensive Military Readings Journal, it was India that first proposed a joint anti-piracy exercise in Malacca Straits which Beijing turned down owing to the Pakistan factor. It is perhaps for this reason that the Chinese first accommodated the Pakistani Navy in October in its first ever joint naval exercises. The exercises with India however, were announced only a day after Gen. Pervez Musharraf had left Beijing.

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Given the Indian Navy?s reach and capabilities, naval exercises with India are obviously more important for the Chinese than those with Pakistan. The China Daily noted that foreign trade between India, China and Pakistan depended to a large extent on sea transport and piracy was a major threat to this trade. Also in the People's Daily interview, Admiral Suthan had stated that the military component of the exercises would include cracking down on pirates and that there was a need to have naval patrols against them. However, China also transports an ever increasing percentage of its oil requirements from West Asia, through seas that India considers within its sphere of action and this alone should be a reason for China to accord a high degree of importance to exercises with India.

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The US factor too, cannot be ignored. The Indian Navy?s security escort for American ships carrying high-value cargo through the Malacca Straits, as part of the joint US-Indian efforts against international terrorism, the invitation to India to become part of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), as well as the joint naval exercises between the two countries last month, did not go unnoticed by the Chinese.

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The Chinese, therefore, have not lagged behind in developing ties with the US Navy. At the same time as exercises were being held with Pakistan, Chinese naval ships were also for the first time visiting Guam, home of the US Seventh Fleet, returning a September visit? by two US warships to Zhanjiang, where the PLAN?s South China Sea Fleet is based. The language of a China Daily article on the Guam visit conveys in no uncertain terms the significance of the visit to the Chinese, easily much more than that of the exercises with India.