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Indian Officials Favor U.S. Concept of Thousand-Ship Navy
Officials here speculate that India would find it easier to participate in the U.S.-proposed thousand-ship navy than other more formal coalitions.Adm. Michael Mullen, the U.S. Navys chief of naval operations, discussed the concept of a broad coalition of friendly navies on April 18 during his visit here following this years Exercise Malabar. Ships and troops of the Indian Navy and U.S. Pacific Command conducted the annual exercises April 6-11 off Japan. The thousand-ship navy is an attractive concept for India because of its lack of formalities, a Defence Ministry official here said. India is already working towards a formal maritime security arrangement with the United States, and participation in the thousand-ship navy could be part of that, the ministry official said. However, it is not clear whether the maritime cooperation agreement would come in the form of India joining the Washington-sponsored Proliferation Security Initiative, Container Security Initiative Regional Maritime Security Initiative or the thousand-ship navy effort. The Indian Navy would find it easier to participate in the thousand-ship navy concept as it has no commander, and as such the informal coalition would not be commandeered by the United States, an Indian Navy official said. Posted by: John Frum 2007-04-20 |
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