Amid increasing Chinese assertiveness, India intervened to swiftly deny there had been any ‘confrontation’ between the two countries’ naval forces off Vietnam in the South China Sea in July. But, it was firm its freedom to navigate in international waters could neither be questioned nor denied.
The Financial Times had yesterday carried a report about an alleged confrontation between an Indian Navy ship and a Chinese vessel off the coast of Vietnam in July.
Clarifying the report, the Indian foreign office said INS Airavat paid a friendly visit to Vietnam between July 19 and 28. “On July 22, INS Airavat sailed from the Vietnamese port of Nha Trang towards Hai Phong, where it was to make a port call. At a distance of 45 nautical miles from the Vietnamese coast in the South China Sea, it was contacted on an open radio channel by a caller identifying himself as the ‘Chinese Navy’, stating that ‘you are entering Chinese waters’. No ship or aircraft was visible from INS Airavat, which proceeded on her onward journey as scheduled.”
“There was no confrontation involving the INS Airavat” the foreign office said, adding however that India supported freedom of navigation in international waters, including in the South China Sea, and the right of passage in accordance with the accepted principles of international law. “These principles should be respected by all,” the statement said.
India has been able to forge a deep and wide relationship with Vietnam, and conducts military exercises with that country. Of particular interest to India is Vietnam’s Da Nang Naval base, which has been under Russian control for several decades. India wants access to Da Nang. China has been viewing these moves with disfavour.
The South China Sea is a hotly contested property for strategic as well as economic reasons. In a submission to the United Nations in May 2010, China claimed it had “indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and the adjacent waters, and enjoys sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the relevant waters, as well as the sea-bed and subsoil...” It attached a map along with its claim to the UN that shows the entire South China Sea as part of its territory. This is not the first time China has attempted to stop an Indian ship. Twice earlier — in 1958 and 2001 — Indian ships were stopped by Chinese authorities.
Nor is this exchange one-sided. Top Indian Navy sources said earlier this year, a Chinese fishing trawler was intercepted in the Bay of Bengal, trying to monitor telemetry signals from Balasore, Orissa, where India tests its air defence systems. When challenged, the trawler moved from Indian territorial waters to international waters. In June, a mysteriously abandoned ship was discovered in the Arabian Sea.
India is not raising these issues in pursuance of a general approach on China, outlined by National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon in a lecture last month. Delivering the Prem Bhatia Memorial lecture, Menon said the bilateral relations had elements of cooperation but also competition, because ‘our extended neighbourhood is also China’s extended neighbourhood’. Making withering observations on self-styled China experts and the ‘brilliance’ of some sections of the media, he had said much more moderation was required on the part of the media.
“Why create self-fulfiling prophecies of conflict with powerful neighbours like China?” Menon had asked, adding “for me, this is one lesson of the 1950s that some of us are in the danger of forgetting”.
