Navy stealth frigate docked in Djibouti

Indian Navy’s front line warship INS Trikhand on Monday has docked in Djibouti as a part of the western fleet’s operational deployment.

The east African port town is crucial to New Delhi’s geopolitical interest in the Indian Ocean in the backdrop of India and Japan proposing to create an “Arc of Democracy”connecting Djibouti to Port Blair to Yokosuka, to counter China’s “String of Pearls.” Japan has its first-ever overseas base in Djibouti.

In one of his recent visits to India, Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso stated that Tokyo would be looking forward to establish strong links between Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force and the Indian Navy, from Yokosuka to Port Blair to Djibouti.

The bonds of friendship between the armed forces of India and Japan comes in the wake of Washington shifting almost 60 per cent of its naval assets in the Indian Ocean region and putting in additional investment in new platforms and technologies suitable for the Indian Ocean.

While China never officially acknowledges the existence of String of Pearls, the US-Japan-India trilateral axis is being thought of as a counter to the Chinese game plan.

In Djibouti, stealth frigate INS Trikahnd, commanded by Capt Vinay Kalia, would stay till August 13 to reaffirm “Indian Navy’s peaceful presence and solidarity with the countries in the region thereby allowing, both Djibouti and India, to meet the ever growing challenges of the maritime environment.”