India-US navy drill will not change situation along LAC, says China's state-controlled media

The joint drill by the Indian Navy and the United States Navy near Andaman and Nicobar Islands will not bring about any change in situation along the disputed boundary between India and China, a state-controlled newspaper of the communist party tweeted on Tuesday.

“No matter how hard Indian media hypes the drill with the USS Nimitz, China-India border situation won’t be affected,” the Global Times, a newspaper run by the Communist Party of China, posted on Twitter. “Some Indians, like foxes wanting to use tiger's might to their own advantage, seek support from the US. Such effort will end up in vain.”

The tweet by the Global Times came even as New Delhi noticed a deliberate attempt by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to slow down the process of withdrawal of troops from the scenes of the face-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the de facto boundary between the two nations – in eastern Ladakh.

The Indian Army and the Chinese PLA early this month agreed on a mutual “disengagement” process to end the two-month-long stand-off along the LAC. Though both sides pulled out troops from some of the face-off scenes, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh dropped hints about uncertainty over the process, when he said during a visit to a forward base of the Indian Army that he could not guarantee how much the talks between the diplomats and military officials of India and China would succeed in resolving the stand-off along the LAC.

The Indian Navy’s warships INS Rana, INS Sahyadri, INS Shivalik and INS Kamorta on Monday participated in the “cooperative exercise” with the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, which was on its way to West Asia after conducting a drill with USS Ronald Reagan in South China Sea.

The drill by the two US Navy carriers in South China Sea as well as the joint exercise by the Indian Navy ships and the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group in Indian Ocean came in the wake of growing belligerence of China – not only along its disputed boundary with India, but elsewhere in Indo-Pacific too.

The joint exercise by US and Indian warships closer to Malacca Strait was intended to send out the message to China that the sea lane, which is vital for the communist country, could be choked in case of a conflict in the region.

Beijing, however, tried to put up a brave front and brushed off the message India and the US sent out to it.

“Instead of being led by the nose by the US, India should strengthen communications with China at the strategic level,” journalist Yu Jincui wrote in an article in Global Times. “After all, the two Asian giants are immovable neighbours. Both confront development conundrums. If India blindly follows the US, it will ultimately harm its own interests”.