- Vietnam is a major focus country in India’s “Act East Policy”
- It has huge coastline embedded with oil reserves and thus important for India from energy resource diversification point of view.
- Counter to “String of Pearls” of China.
- India might sell Brahmos missile to Vietnam
- India and Vietnam has signed 12 agreements during our PMs Vietnam visit. Important are:
- Exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes,
- Double taxation avoidance,
- Co-operation on UN peacekeeping operation.
- Health,
- Cyber security,
- Advanced IT training,
- Sharing of shipping information between the Navies of the two countries and mutual recognition of standards
- India announced a line of credit (LoC) of 500 million US Dollars to Vietnam to facilitate deeper defence cooperation. The LoC will be used by India’s L&T to build offshore high speed patrol boats for Vietnamese Coast Guards.
- India has agreed to train Vietnam’s Sukhoi-30 fighter pilots, boosting growing defence ties between both countries.
- India and Vietnam have signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement. With this, Vietnam became 14th country with which India has signed the civil nuclear deal.
Why these changes are happening now?
- India and Vietnam have steadily stepping up their cooperation, especially in defence sector, against the backdrop of the growing assertiveness of China in the Southeast and South Asia region.
- Recently, bilateral ties between both countries received a further fillip after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Vietnam in September 2016, on his way to the G-20 Summit in Guangzhou, China.
- During this visit, the bilateral relationship between both countries was upgraded from a “strategic partnership” to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”
Critically analyse if India’s growing proximity with Vietnam is in its long-term interests in the Indo – Pacific region. (200 Words)
Following interest can be served by India-Vietnam relations:
- Economic Interest : Vietnam is a good source of petroleum but lacks in the modern techniques of its exploration. India can exploit this as an opportunity to shed its dependency over middle east.
- Strategic Interest : Both India and Vietnam can act together towards countering the influence of China in South China Sea and Indian Ocean.
- Act East Policy : Vietnam is one of the important countries for India towards its act east policy and it importance can be understood from the fact that it supports India’s bid for permanent membership in United Nation Security Council.
- Mekong Ganga cooperation : Both India and Vietnam are the part of Mekong Ganga cooperation which emphasises cooperation in four areas viz. tourism, culture, transportation and education.
- Multilateral Interests : India’s support to Vietnam will also enhance its relation with countries like the US and Japan which take China as their as their envy.
China angle:
Despite of these long term benefits the closeness may impact India’s relationship with China. China had threatened India for exporting its technology to Vietnam for oil drilling, and also challenges the sovereignty of Vietnam. It also warned India for interfering in South China Sea disputes and supporting Vietnam for the same
Way Forward:
Taking all these under consideration, India should move forward with its policies with Vietnam but at the same time it should enhance its diplomatic talk with China by taking the help of the US and the EU to counter the problems of the south east