*Shanghai: *Eleven Chinese warships sailed into the East Indian Ocean thismonth, a Chinese news portal said, amid a constitutional crisis in the tinytropical island chain of the Maldives.

A fleet of destroyers and at least one frigate, a 30,000-tone amphibioustransport dock and three support tankers entered the Indian Ocean, newsportal Sina said, without linking the deployment to the crisis in theMaldives or giving a reason.

“If you look at warships and other equipment, the gap between the Indianand Chinese navy is not large,” Sina said on Sunday last.

It did not say when the fleet was deployed or for how long.

Maldives President Abdulla Yameen has signed up to Beijing’s Belt and Roadinitiative to build trade and transport links across Asia and beyond.

India also has longstanding political and security ties to the Indian Oceanarchipelago 400 km away, and has sought to push backlink>againstChina’s expanding presence in the overwhelmingly Muslim country of fourlakh people. Maldivian opposition leaders have urged New Delhi to intervenelink>inthe crisis.

China’s Ministry of Defence did not respond to requests for comment.

On Friday, the People’s Liberation Army posted photos and a story on rescuetraining exercises taking place in the East Indian Ocean on its officialTwitter-like Weibo account.

China earlier this month advised Chinese citizens to avoid visiting theMaldives, famous its luxury hotels, scuba-diving resorts and limpidtropical seas, until political tensions subside.

China has been striking deals with countries in Asia and Africa in linewith its Belt and Road initiative to improve imports of key commodities,upgrade infrastructure and trade routes in the region and boost itsdiplomatic clout.

President Yameen imposed the emergency on February 5 for 15 days to annul aSupreme Court ruling that quashed convictions against nine oppositionleaders and ordered his government to free those held in prison. He soughtparliamentary approval to extend the emergency for 30 days on Monday. -Agencies