The Chinese official media on Monday said that India should focus less on building aircraft carriers to contain China in Indian Ocean, and more on its economic development.
An article in the state-run Global Times said that India is in its initial stage of industrialisation, and is too impatient to develop an aircraft carrier.
"New Delhi is perhaps too impatient to develop an aircraft carrier. The country is still in its initial stage of industrialisation, and there will be many technical obstacles that stand in the way of a build-up of aircraft carriers," the article said, according to the Press Trust of India.
"In the past few decades, India and China have taken different paths in terms of aircraft carriers, but the different results achieved by the two countries point to the underlying importance of economic development," it said. "New Delhi should perhaps be less eager to speed up the process of building aircraft carriers in order to counter China's growing sway in the Indian Ocean, and focus more on its economy," the article added.
China celebrated the 68th anniversary of the establishment of its navy on Sunday amid a huge expansion of its fleet. Reports state that a fleet of three Chinese naval ships left Shanghai this morning for a friendly visit to more than 20 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa.
"With the expansion of foreign trade, as well as China's 'One Belt and One Road' initiative, the Chinese navy has taken on a new mission, which is to protect the country's overseas interests," a report in the Global Times said.
While the Chinese media talked about its navy's massive expansion with new "logistics" in Gwadar in Pakistan and Djibouti in the Indian Ocean, it also projected India in a negative light by suggesting that the nation requires more economic development before it focuses on developing its carrier fleet, PTI reported.
"As the world's second-largest economy, China is now capable of building a strong navy to safeguard the security of strategic maritime channels. China's construction of its first aircraft carrier is a result of economic development," an article in Global Times said.
The article said that China would have completed its work years ago if it had wanted to engage in "arms race" to have more influence in the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.
"India itself could be taken as a negative example for a build-up of aircraft carriers," it said.
