Commitment to strengthen cooperation

31/10/2014

There are two significant aspects to India's commitment to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam in the areas of defence, security and oil and gas exploration. The first is an unambiguous boost to this country's long-held strong ties with Hanoi. India had backed Vietnam during its various conflicts in the recent past. But while relations between the two countries have remained steady over the decades, they never realised their full potential. Even the strategic partnership that was struck back in 2007 remained largely non-operational. There are indications that the ties will now be scaled up. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured Vietnam that his Government will “quickly operationalise” the $100 million line of credit to help that country enhance its defence capabilities. There is also talk of New Delhi entering into a deal with Hanoi for the sale of the BrahMos missile system. Prime Minister Modi said in the presence of visiting Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung that “our defence cooperation with Vietnam is among our most important ones.” While reports indicate that India is not principally opposed to the request and that it would provide Vietnam “anything they wanted militarily”, the sale of BrahMos could materialise once certain obstacles are removed.
The important point to note is that New Delhi is not hemming and hawing on the pretext that the BrahMos sale could antagonise China and upset the ties that are supposedly being taken to a new level following the recent visit to India by Chinese President Xi Jinping. This brings us to the second significant aspect: The new Indian Government is not shy of pushing ahead with its core economic and strategic interests, even if it rubs certain countries the wrong way. For far too long, New Delhi remained on the back foot in promoting its presence in disputed waters which the Chinese claimed as their own. That appears to be changing. The first indication of that came when Prime Minister Modi, during his visit to Japan, flayed the “expansionism” by certain countries “in land and in sea”. This was hardly a disguised jibe at China which has been flexing its muscles in South China Sea over ownership of a clutch of islands. Vietnam has offered India exploration rights to two oil blocks in the South China Sea and extended the contract of another block for two more years.
Just how all these developments are going to impact India-China relations, remains to be seen. Beijing has already expressed its displeasure over India's growing proximity to Vietnam. China had reacted similarly to India's engagement with countries like the Philippines and Malaysia — with all of whom China has a running dispute over sovereignty. Meanwhile, India appears determined to chart the new course, though it will in all likelihood tell the Chinese that the recent diplomatic, trade and defence outreaches are not aimed at ‘countering' or ‘belittling' China, but enhancing India's interests. Now, if Beijing still maintains that such outreach is an affront to it, then so be it. None of those concerns should make New Delhi backtrack on the deep engagement with Vietnam, which includes a promise to train Vietnamese fighter pilots. Already, Vietnamese sailors are being trained in underwater warfare skills by Indian experts.

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