Amid the growing Chinese naval presence around India, the navies of the two Asian giants will this week hold a series of manoeuvres off the Chinese coast to enhance mutual trust and better understanding in providing secure maritime lines of communications.

The naval exercises are being held under the landmark bilateral memorandum of understanding inked in May 2006 to step up military exchanges and cooperation in tune with the growing political, economic and commercial ties between them.

The exchanges will provide a unique opportunity for understanding drills and procedures followed by the naval ships of the two countries in a cooperative environment, official sources said as two Indian naval ships, INS Rana and INS Ranjit, both Destroyer Class warships, arrived at Qingdao Port on Thursday.

The present port call at Qingdao, also the headquarters of the PLA Navy North Sea Fleet, from April 12-16, will further enhance understanding between the navies of the two countries, the sources said.

Naval exchanges are an important step towards creating better understanding in this field, he said.

Concurrent with the visit of the two naval ships, Deputy Chief of the Indian Navy Vice Admiral R P Suthan will also visit Beijing and Qingdao and interact with senior officers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

Sources point out that cooperation between the two navies has always been an important part of the defence cooperation between the Indian armed forces and the PLA.

The last India-China joint naval exercise was held in 2005. PLA Navy Task Group, comprising of two PLA naval ships -- Shenzhen and Weishanhu, visited Kochi in November 2005 and held search and rescue exercises with the Indian Navy.

Prior to that, in November 2003, INS Ranjit, INS Kulish and INS Jyoti visited Shanghai and held search and rescue exercises with the PLA Navy for the first time.

The navies of the two sides have also exchanged high-level visits. In April 2005, Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Yashwant Prasad visited China. In October 2005,

Rear Admiral Zhang Yongyi of PLA Navy visited India.      

At the same time, there is growing concern in New Delhi on the increasing presence of Chinese Navy around India, especially in Pakistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. China is actively assisting Pakistan in building a strategic naval base and facility at Gwadar. China is also in the process of replicating such a facility in Myanmar, enhancing Chinese naval presence in the Arabian Sea as well as the Bay of Bengal.

Last month, China and Sri Lanka signed an agreement for the development of the Hambantota port development project, which could also see increased Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean.