New Delhi: Indian Navy Chief frustrated over Pakistan and Chinese Navies inIndian Ocean.

Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh said on Tuesday the presence of Chineseships in the Indian Ocean is increasing and added that his force has beenkeeping a close watch on them.

He assured the nation that the Indian Navy is fully prepared to deal withnational security challenges.

Admiral Karambir was speaking at an annual press conference, held a dayahead of the Navy Day, where he stated that China and Pakistan werescheduled to hold an exercise in North Arabian Sea and the Chinese vesselmust have entered the Indian Ocean Region to take part in the exercise.

Commenting on the recent incident, when the Indian Navy drove away asuspicious Chinese vessel operating in the Indian waters near Port Blair,Singh said, “Our stand is that if you have to work in our Special EconomicZone, then you have to take our clearance.”

The officer also expressed his concern over the decline in Navy’s share indefence budget from 18 percent in 2012 to 12 percent in 2018, besidesadding that the maritime force plans to have three aircraft carriers in thefleet in the long term.

“As the Navy chief, I am convinced that the country needs three aircraftcarriers so that two are operational at all times. We think, it should be65,000 tonnes with electromagnetic propulsion,” he was quoted as saying byANI.