Chinese activities in IOR are monitored 'minutely': Dhowan

The Indian Navy today said it "minutely" monitors the activities of its Chinese counterpart in the Indian Ocean Rim even as it downplayed China's assertive white paper on defence which talks about enhancing its naval reach for the first time to "open seas protection" far from its shores.
Underlining that India's maritime resources are directly linked to country's economy, Navy chief Admiral R K Dhowan said Chinese ships have been deployed in anti-piracy operations since 2008 in the Indian Ocean along with some submarines.
"PLA Navy's activities are minutely monitored by Indian Navy and our belief is that the responsibility of protecting Indian Ocean and our coastline lies with the Navy. Our ships, aircraft carriers are always on alert so that our security is maintained," he said speaking to reporters on the last day of the Naval Commanders' Conference being held here.

Asked about China's white paper on defence, Dhowan said every navy makes out its plan as to what it is supposed to do.
"There would be aspects related to defensive operations, surveillance, and all kinds of operations which spread out during the period of peace and during hostilities. So it is natural for any Navy to have its plans which covers the spectrum of entire operations. That (Chinese white paper) is a normal activity for any white paper of any navy," he said.
On Tuesday, China has unveiled an assertive military strategy enhancing its naval reach for the first time to "open seas protection" far from its shores which could pose a challenge to the Indian Navy especially in the Indian Ocean.

The 9,000-word paper has warned of threats to China's maritime rights and interests, citing the provocative actions of some offshore neighbours, including reinforced and illegal military presence in Chinese territory, and outside parties involving themselves in South China Sea affairs.

From India's point of view, the white paper highlights four critical security domains, including the ocean, outer space, cyberspace and nuclear weapons including plans to make the Navy a blue water navy which could pose a major challenge to Indian Navy .
Dhowan said India has an effective maritime cooperation road map.
He added that India has had a look at all its maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean region especially with regard to capacity building and capability enhancement.

He said the policy looks at what kind of assistance can be provided, "whether it is in terms of training, whether it is in terms of carrying out ease of patrol, whether it is to provide ships, aircraft, hydro graphic survey".
The Navy chief said everything is taken into account in the plan to see that "these littoral countries are assisted by us both for capacity building and capability enhancement".