India has declined China's proposal to allow four of its warships to join the hunt for the MH370 jetliner near the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, even as it is now dispatching two aircraft to Malaysia to join the international search force that is now scanning southern Indian Ocean off Australia for the missing 777-200ER aircraft.
Officials on Thursday said China's request to allow its four warships, including two frigates and a salvage vessel, to enter Indian territorial waters has been "politely turned down" since Indian warships and aircraft are already searching the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea around the 572-island cluster.
While the Chinese warships are free to sail in international waters, Indian forces will obviously be unhappy about their presence anywhere near the strategically-located Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
"The A&N command is our military outpost in the region, which overlooks the Malacca Strait and dominates the Six-Degree Channel. We don't want Chinese warships sniffing around in the area on the pretext of hunting for the missing jetliner or anti-piracy patrols," said an official.
An Indian P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance plane and a C-130J special operations aircraft, with electro-optic and infra-red sensors, meanwhile will fly to Malaysia on Friday morning to join the international search force there.
20/03/14 Rajat Pandit/Times of India
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Officials on Thursday said China's request to allow its four warships, including two frigates and a salvage vessel, to enter Indian territorial waters has been "politely turned down" since Indian warships and aircraft are already searching the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea around the 572-island cluster.
While the Chinese warships are free to sail in international waters, Indian forces will obviously be unhappy about their presence anywhere near the strategically-located Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
"The A&N command is our military outpost in the region, which overlooks the Malacca Strait and dominates the Six-Degree Channel. We don't want Chinese warships sniffing around in the area on the pretext of hunting for the missing jetliner or anti-piracy patrols," said an official.
An Indian P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance plane and a C-130J special operations aircraft, with electro-optic and infra-red sensors, meanwhile will fly to Malaysia on Friday morning to join the international search force there.
20/03/14 Rajat Pandit/Times of India
