India becoming Interested in the South China Sea Must Make China Nervous

Although India is not a party to the South China Sea dispute, in recent years—particularly since Secretary of State Hilary Clinton vigorously advocated freedom of navigation in the South China Sea at the Asian Regional Forum meeting in Hanoi in July 2010, and India endorsed the stance—Beijing has grown wary of India’s intentions in the South China Sea. This wariness was further exacerbated in September 2011, when India and Vietnam announced plans to sign an agreement for oil exploration in the South China Sea. Beijing responded by saying that China enjoys indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea, and that China’s stand was based on historical facts and international law. It was further stated that China was opposed to any project in the South China Sea, without directly referring to India.

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India boldly articulated its position with regard to freedom of navigation at the Commemorative Summit of the ASEAN-India summit held in New Delhi in December 2012 to mark its 20th anniversary. Addressing the Summit Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated the idea of regional security architecture. He urged the member countries to intensify their engagement for maritime security and safety, for freedom of navigation and for peaceful settlement of maritime disputes in accordance with international law, political and security consultations, including in regional forums such as the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum and the ASEAN Defense Minister’s Meeting Plus and proposed that the leaders should work together more purposefully for the evolution of an open, balanced, inclusive and transparent regional architecture (Opening Statement by Prime Minister at Plenary Session of India-ASEAN Commemorative Summit, Strategic Digest, January, 2013) .

It is still unclear as to whether OVL will still pursue oil exploration in Block 128. The annual report of OVL for the year 2009-10 mentioned that the drilling activities in Block 128 would be resumed in 2011. However the report for 2011-12 simply mentions that PetroVietnam has suggested OVL to continue the exploration program in the block for additional two years with effect from 16th June, 2012 by revisiting the geological model with the integration of data likely to be available with the assistance from Petro Vietnam.

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