I have never said China is more powerful: Navy Chief

New Delhi, Aug 27 (PTI) Seeking to straighten out his
recent remarks on China, Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta
on Thursday said he had "never" stated that Beijing was more
powerful than New Delhi as was attributed to him in the media.

"I have never said that China is more powerful than us.
What I said is that for numbers to numbers, we don't want to
compete (with them). May be we are better without having those
numbers," he said.

He was addressing a farewell press conference before
demitting office on August 31.

Mehta'a clarification followed his remarks earlier this
month that "India neither had the capability nor the
intention" to match Chinese military capabilities.

He said these remarks were made in a particular context.

When asked about the threat posed by the Chinese naval
bases coming up around India and whether China wanted to
encircle India, he said, "India is a big country and it would
be very difficult to do so. As their (Chinese) Navy comes from
far away to this region, they need to build bases, which is
known as shaping the maritime environment." (MORE) PTI AJD
SDE
In the recent past, China has set up bases in Hamabantota
in Sri Lanka and Gwadar in Pakistan, which is seen as
Beijing's attempt to encircle India.

Asked if India had any intention of setting up an
overseas base, Mehta said, "it is neither the policy of the
government nor the intention".

Acknowledging China as a power in the region, he said
countries have to be present in the Indian Ocean Rim (IOR) to
protect their maritime trade and added that every country had
the right to be here, if it suited its national interest.

On the increased presence of the US Navy in the region,
Mehta said "it doesn't in any way hinder our national
interests or our way of working out our deployments". PTI AJD
SDE

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