While China's government last week played down its concerns over the India-United States-Japan Malabar naval exercise that kicks off today, State media in Beijing have hit out at the largest-ever drills as a threat to China's "security concerns" and economic interests in the Indian ocean region.

On Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a measured reaction to the drills, saying it has 'no objection to normal bilateral relations and cooperation among relevant countries' but 'hope[s] this kind of relations and cooperation is not directed at any third party and conducive to regional peace and stability.'

An editorial today in the official China Daily, the English-language mouthpiece of the government that is under the State Council, or Chinese cabinet, struck a different note, saying that even while India expressed security concerns over China's road-building in the India-China-Bhutan trijunction, it was China that had reason to be concerned about its security.

The editorial said, "India, the United States and Japan have begun their 10-day Malabar naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal, which are the biggest of their kind so far, and the US approved a $365-million sale of military transport aircraft to India last week and a $2-billion deal for surveillance drones is in the works, it is China that should feel 'security concerns', given the importance of the Indian Ocean for its trade and oil imports."

CHINA WARY OF INDIA-US TIES

In the same paper, strategic expert Lin Minwang of the Institute of International Studies, at Fudan University in Shanghai, said the exercises underlined the growing closeness in India-US ties and showed India was becoming an American "ally".

"While visiting the United States two weeks ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi managed to sell the idea that New Delhi is a key defence partner of Washington and it can serve as a counterweight to China's rise," he said. "A joint statement issued during his US visit said the US-India partnership is central to regional stability. In return, US President Donald Trump approved the sale of 22 Predator Guardian drones to India, a 'luxury' available only to the US NATO allies."

"It is becoming clear that India is ready to serve as an ally of the US rather than a swing power that honours independent, non-aligned diplomacy," added Lin, saying that "Beijing should remain vigilant against New Delhi's moves while urging it to withdraw its troops from Chinese territory," referring to the on-going Doklam stand-off.

ABOUT MALABAR EXERCISES

This year's Malabar exercises are the widest in scope till date, involving the US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, India's carrier INS Vikramaditya and Japan's helicopter carrier Izumo. One area of focus of the exercises is anti-submarine warfare, at a time when the PLA Navy's submarines are an increasingly frequent presence in the Indian Ocean Region.

Japan's inclusion in the exercise since 2014 has been a source of concern for some Chinese strategists, although Beijing on Friday played down concerns. The 8-day exercises, set to start on Monday, will involve more than 20 warships from the three countries.

China has in the past pressured India on multilateral exercises, seeing them as being aimed at Beijing. The Chinese government, for instance, bristled at past inclusions of Australia and Singapore in the bilateral India-US naval exercise.

China last month welcomed India's decision to not include Australia in the drills, with the Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying saying, "I think India is also clear about the consideration behind [Australia's] behaviours. I think we are happy to see normal dialogue and communications on security issues, but we also hope when conducting such operations, the parties can fully consider the security concerns of different parties and also play a positive and constructive role in promoting regional peace and stability."

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