Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will arrive in India on Monday for a two-day visit, and the bilateral agenda will be seen as another strong assertion of India’s interests in the South China Sea. China will be closely watching the visit.
The Hindu has learnt that India and Vietnam will sign three agreements, one an MoU on prospecting by OVL (ONGC Videsh Ltd.) in two more fields in the South China Sea. Discussions will be held on supplying naval vessels to Vietnam. Both issues had seen statements of concern from Beijing in the past. However, officials confirmed that the current blocks under discussion to be signed during this visit, part of a batch of five offered by Vietnam in November, are in Vietnamese territorial waters, and not disputed.
The agreements, which will include oil exploration, economic and cultural cooperation, will be signed after meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Nguyen in Delhi on Tuesday.
During President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Vietnam last month, India signed a defence agreement extending a $100-million line of credit to the country. The agreement, which came just ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India, sparked off a Foreign Ministry statement in Beijing that China would not “support any agreement” that dealt with any “waters administered by China, or is not approved by China.”
According to a source, Mr. Nguyen and his delegation will discuss placing orders for offshore patrol vehicles at Indian shipyards using the $100-million line of credit.
India has been boosting Vietnamese naval capabilities in the contentious waters.
