United States, Japan and India to conduct maritime drill
07 Mar 2007
Tokyo: Japan, the United States and India are likely to carry out a joint military drill in the Pacific, off Japan's coast in a move that would be a first-of-its-kind. The report, which does not cite sources, has been carried by Japan's business daily Nikkei, as well as the Kyodo News agency. The Japanese ambassador to India, in an interview with the daily Asian Age, later confirmed it. (See: United States, Japan and India: An Axis of the East)
The Asian Age report cites Ambassador Yasukuni Enoki as having said that it would be a large exercise. India and Japan have cooperated at the coast guard level, with joint exercises in the areas of maritime search and rescue and anti-piracy since 2000. Until now the countries have not held joint naval exercises.
According to the Japanese report, the Pentagon will call on Japan and India to participate in the military exercise off the US naval base at Yokosuka in Japan on 16 April. The report says that the maritime drill is likely to focus on safety measures to be taken in the event of a major natural disaster in the Pacific, such as a tsunami. According to the report, Japan will deploy destroyers and surveillance helicopters in the drill. The nature, or the size, of US and Indian units is not known.
If confirmed by the respective governments, the move will come amid heightened concerns about China's military build-up as well as escalating tensions in the Straits of Taiwan. It may be stressed here though that a formal announcement in this regard has yet to be made by the three governments.
