Parrikar rules out joint patrolling with the US in Asia Pacific

NEW DELHI: India on Friday ruled out the possibility of undertaking joint naval patrolling or hopping on board a quadrilateral security dialogue in the Asia Pacific region, which has been proposed by the US as a counter to China's aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea and elsewhere."Till now, India has never participated in joint patrolling. We do participate in joint exercises. So, the question of joint patrolling at this stage does not arise," said defence minister Manohar Parrikar.India, for instance, will be undertaking the Malabar naval exercise with the US and Japan, off the Japanese coast in the Pacific, in June-July.This comes three days after the visiting US Pacific command chief admiral Harry Harris pitched for a quadrilateral security dialogue among India, Japan, Australia and the US, even as he hoped that joint patrolling would materialise in the Asia-Pacific region in "the not too distant future", as was reported by TOI.India has for long positioned itself as "a neutral player" in the ongoing geopolitical jostling between the US and China, especially in the South China Sea where the latter is locked in bitter territorial disputes with its neighbours."I am not responding to what the US admiral has said. Our viewpoint will come to you if we at all consider any such thing from our side,"said Parrikar.Asked whether India was going to ink the nearly-finalised Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) when US defence secretary Ash Carter comes visiting India next month, Parrikar said the government would take all decisions in the interest of the country."It has to benefit the nation on various counts. We definitely would say that our government is very active on almost everything. We don't like to unnecessarily delay things. So, we definitely do paper work, discussions are going on many things," he said.The US has been pushing the bilateral "foundational agreements" like the LSA, the Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum Agreement (CISMOA) and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation (BECA) for over a decade now.Though the previous UPA regime had stonewalled them, the NDA government feels the LSA is "relatively easier to ink", while more clarifications and discussions are needed on the CISMOA and BECA, as was reported by TOI.Modelled on the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreements the US has inked with scores of countries, the LSA envisages the two militaries providing logistic support, refuelling and berthing facilities for each other's warships and aircraft on a barter or an equal-value exchange basis.