India has taken the first tentative steps towards establishing a “sustainable maritime presence” in the South China Sea, not far from the Chinese mainland. With Indo-Vietnamese naval cooperation set to strengthen in the days to come, Vietnam has allowed Indian naval warships to drop anchor at its Nha Trang port in southern Vietnam during
naval goodwill visits, well-placed government sources have confirmed.
Sources said the Indian Navy was perhaps the only foreign Navy in recent times to have been given this privilege by the Vietnamese at a port other than Halong Bay, near Hanoi. “The move will give India the key to a sustainable presence in the South China Sea,” said a government source. This will enable India to play a bigger role in the strategic Southeast Asian region which overlooks key shipping lines.
India, too, is set to offer naval facilities for training and capacity-building to Vietnam. The Commander-in-Chief of the Vietnam People’s Navy, Vice-Admiral and deputy minister Nguyen Van Hien, is scheduled to visit New Delhi, Mumbai and Visakhapatnam during his visit starting Monday to witness Indian naval capabilities. “India could also offer its experience in ship-building to Vietnam, which currently has a small Navy,” said a government source.
China will no doubt be closely monitoring the Indo-Vietnamese naval cooperation. Both India and Vietnam are wary of growing Chinese military capabilities. Both countries have been victims of Chinese military aggression in the past. Vietnam, which fought a border war with China in 1979, has also been at the receiving end of Chinese naval military domination in the region. China and Vietnam have maritime disputes over the oil-rich Spratly and Paracel islands in the South China Sea.
But, predictably, Indian government sources caution that the Indo-Vietnamese defence relationship should not be seen to be aimed at China. “Vietnam is opening itself to the world. It is not looking to challenge China but merely seeking to enhance its own economic and defence capabilities in view of the ground realities,” pointed out a government source. Vietnam is part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which is seeking to engage China on a host of issues.
As defence analyst and National Maritime Foundation director Commodore C. Uday Bhaskar (Retd) puts it, “India would like to keep the issue of maintaining a maritime presence in the South China Sea as a potential option. Every major power would like to have the ability, if required, to maintain a credible maritime presence in two of the three navigable oceans of the world.” Pointing out that “in all of Asia Vietnam has the most distinctive strategic pedigree and profile”, Cdre Bhaskar added, “Clearly, Vietnam has a very deep anxiety about China which is manifested in the South China Sea disputes.” While cautioning that Indo-Vietnamese defence cooperation should not be seen as a tit-for-tat strategy in reaction to the Sino-Pakistan relationship, Cdre Bhaskar nevertheless avers that the Indo-Vietnamese naval cooperation will bestow a sense of “equipoise” in Southeast Asia.
While India does not want its defence cooperation with Vietnam to be seen as a counter-strategy in view of the increasing Chinese footprint in the Indian Ocean, the fact remains that China has been ringing India with its “String of Pearls” strategy by engaging in maritime cooperation with Burma, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The Chinese strategy encompasses both development of ports and full-fledged naval cooperation, depending on its equations with the host country. India, too, is stepping up its defence capabilities at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, located close to Southeast Asia.