Led by the NS Ranjit, a 5,000-tonne Russian guided missile destroyer, the INS Kulish, a guided missile corvette, and the INS Jyoti, a tanker, the Indian taskforce cast off from Shanghai at 9:00 am (0100 GMT), a consular official said.
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Joined by two Chinese warships and helicopters, they conducted five-hour search and rescue maneuvers in the East China Sea before the Indian ships set sail for home.
“The exercises, aimed at ensuring and improving coordination in search and rescue at sea, will be a stepping stone in enhancing inter-operability between the two navies,” India’s Ambassador to China Nalin Suire was quoted as saying by the China Daily.
The decision to hold the exercise was taken during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to China in June when both sides agreed to bolster relations amid recognition of each other’s potentially vast markets.
The drill follows similar Sino-Pakistani war games earlier this month — the first time China had permitted any type of joint naval exercises as it seeks to raise its international profile as a legitimate regional power.
While the maneuvers are militarily insignificant the naval cooperation is seen as deeply symbolic for two countries still mending ties after a 1962 border war.
“The joint exercise signals a marked change to improve the relationship between China and India despite some border issues that have existed between the two countries for a long time,” said Chen Zhimin, a professor of international relations at Fudan University.
K.A. Bopanna, a senior Indian naval officer, called the operations just the “beginning”, and said they would help promote future contact.
Since Vajpayee’s trip, China and India have redoubled efforts to finally demarcate their borders including between the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet, the scene of their war.
Aside from the political symbolism, the exercises reflect China’s need for cooperation in the Indian Ocean but also concerns about its increased naval activity in the South China Sea, officials said.
“China’s navy has been moving further south, with heightened activity around the Spratley islands and extending ties as far as Brunei,” said one senior naval officer.
Beijing sought to reassure its long-time ally Pakistan ahead of the drills with the South Asian nation’s biggest adversary that bilateral ties would not be affected.
“Both of them are good neighbors of China, and I don’t think the development of China-India relations will affect the friendly relations between China and Pakistan,” foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.
Fudan University’s Chen added that China is keen to maintain its cozy ties with Pakistan, but also needs to improve its often tense relationship with India.
“China wants to make sure a balanced relationship exists between the three sides,” he said
