THE disputes in the Indo-Pacific do have the possibility of getting out of control and turning into conflict, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar said on Friday against the backdrop of growing global concerns over China’s increasing military assertiveness in the region. In a media briefing ahead of Navy Day on December 4, he also said India has been closely monitoring Chinese activities in the Indian Ocean and that his force deployed surveillance assets, ships, aircraft, submarines and drones to boost its presence. “We try to keep the extra-regional forces which are present in the region under surveillance as we would like to know what are their activities and what are the intentions,” he said, referring to Chinese forays into the Indian Ocean.

 

“That is why we deploy our surveillance assets and ships, submarines, aircraft, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) etc. They are deployed regularly to keep our area of interest under observation to see that we are aware of all the happenings that are taking place.” On the Indo-Pacific, the Chief of Naval Staff said all like-minded nations must work together to ensure peace and stability in the region. “In the Indo-Pacific what we see -- there are disputes. These disputes do have the possibility of getting out of control or getting elevated and then they can go into conflict,” he said.