Shanghai : Amid India’s concerns on deployment of Chinese submarines in the Indian Ocean, a top PLA naval officer sought to justify the move saying the vessels were part of anti-piracy operations while downplaying the ‘string of pearls’ theory to contain India.
“Why cannot submarines participate in anti-piracy operations. Submarines also participate in anti-piracy operations along with other fleets,” Wei Xiandong, Chief of Staff, Shanghai Naval Garrison, said when asked why People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy sends submarines for anti-piracy operations when aircraft or surface warships are needed for such kind of operations.
Interacting with a delegation of Indian journalists at the garrison here, Wei said that different vessels have different roles in such operations and in future, navies of both China and India will extend more cooperation and visit and carry out maritime search and rescue and demonstrate a much closer relationship between the two countries. Downplaying the ‘string of pearls’ theory to encircle India, he said that there should be no worry or concern as China’s defence policy was defensive in nature. “No need to worry. There should be no concern about it because for China, defence policy is defensive in nature. We don’t want to play a big power just to threaten other region or country,” he said.
Sandeep Dahiya
