Navy to take Part in Fleet Review in China | 20 Apr 2019

The Indian Navy has sent two ships to Qingdao, China, to participate in the International Fleet Review, to be held later in the month of April as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations of the People’s Liberation Army (Navy).

  • The ships are stealth destroyer INS Kolkata and fleet tanker INS Shakti.
    • INS Kolkata is equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and sensors to address threats in all dimensions of naval warfare.
    • INS Shakti, a replenishment ship, is one of the largest tankers displacing over 27,000 tonnes and capable of carrying 15,000 tonnes of liquid cargo and over 500 tonnes of solid cargo including victuals and ammunition.
  • Pakistan’s Navy is not participating in the event.
    • The reason could be inability of Pakistan to spare its warships for the event. Currently, there is a heavy deployment of the Indian navy in the Arabian Sea.
  • International Fleet Review (IFR) is a parade of naval ships, aircraft and submarines, and is organised by nations to promote goodwill, strengthen cooperation and showcase their organisational capabilities.
    • It also serves as an ideal platform for world’s navies to showcase their prowess and indigenous ship designing and ship building capabilities in a global/ international arena.
    • In 2018, it was held at Jeju, South Korea.
    • The Indian Navy had last held an International Fleet Review in February 2016, in which 50 navies of different countries took part with nearly 100 warships.

India- China Relations

  • In 2016, when India organised an International Fleet Review at Visakhapatnam, the People's Liberation Army (Navy) sent two of its guided missile frigates, Liuzhou and Sanya for the show.
  • In 2017, the relations between the two neighbours nosedived following the Doklam crisis in which the border guarding troops had a face-off for 73 days. It took several high-level meetings to set out the road map on improving the relations.
  • In April 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi held an informal summit in Chinese city of Wuhan, where they resolved to open a new chapter in their ties, and thus directed their militaries to boost coordination along the nearly 3,500 km Sino-India border.
  • Recently, Chinese foreign minister has indicated that India’s refusal to attend the second Belt and Road forum, will not affect relations between the two countries.
    • India will boycott the forum as its protest against the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) -- the artery of the Belt and Road project - that cuts through Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.