You are not PARANOID at all, but 'tis better to simply downgrade to a CONCERN.
The request would be very hard to counter or simply ignore given the
variables in play, as also what one can conjure. I do not know whether
India has similar equipment, but one possibility would be to escort
them with our best on board as observers/ participants, and divers.
And they be held on a tight schedule. Whatever be it India could end
up revealing a lot about a lot of things.
On the issue of offering assistance we did not REACH OUT of our own
volition. Every opportunity is always in play, and a nation**
stemming, as also stammering, and thrumming (Dil jalta hai) about its
lineage of a 5,000 year and counting civilization could be more
proactive.
** netas, pitas, and batatas
advisors, policy planners, intellectuals
artists, and so forth
This is no mere kator re nhajji!
Venantius J Pinto
On 3/14/14, Tim de Mello wrote:
> Just wondering if anyone else shares this view - or am I just paranoid . .
> .
>
> The Chinese conducted some naval military exercises in early Feb in the
> Eastern Indian Ocean.
> Concerns were voiced at the time by a number of people e.g.
> Chinese Naval Exercise In Eastern Indian Ocean Sends Mixed Signals
> (http://thediplomat.com/2014/02/chinese-naval-exercise-in-eastern-indian-ocean-sends-mixed-signals/)
>
> extracts copied below.
>
> Now Chinese warships want to enter the Bay of Bengal to search for this
> missing plane.
>
> Is there something deeper and more sinister to this story of this missing
> plane?
>
>
>
> Extracts:
>
> These exercises by contrast are potentially far more provocative for India,
> Australia, and ASEAN states (even though Southeast Asia isn't bereft of
> pirates by any means). For India, a Chinese approach in the eastern Indian
> Ocean raises anxieties about the reach of China's navy. India regards the
> eastern Indian Ocean-the space between the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and
> Sumatra-as its domain. Any Chinese exercises in this area, particularly
> combat simulations, will not be taken lightly by New Delhi.
> .
> .
> Indian observers appear to be more concerned by the exercise. One Indian
> commentator, Srikanth Kondapalli, notes that the exercise sends a signal to
> India that China "can come closer to the Andaman & Nicobar joint command
> through Lombok, and not just through Malacca." He additionally notes that
> China could be testing the waters in the eastern Indian Ocean, including its
> ability to operate some distance away from its bases in the region.
> The Hindu's Ananth Krishnan notes that the exercises could also reflect
> China's desire to hedge its reliance on the Strait of Malacca-a major
> waterway for Middle Eastern oil and other imports. 80 percent of China's
> fossil fuel imports travel via the strait. Beijing has already invested
> heavily in Pakistan, Myanmar, and Bangladesh to better connect itself with
> the Indian Ocean. Generally speaking, China hasn't seen the less-trafficked
> straits of Lombok, Sunda, and Makassar to the south as vital to its
> so-called "Malacca dilemma," but this could be changing.
>
--
+
Venantius J Pinto
