New Delhi/Hanoi: – As the tension on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), in Ladakh increases, India has initiated aggressive moves to pressurise China. On Monday, India signed seven agreements for cooperation in various sectors, including the defence sector, with Vietnam, the Chinese neighbour. India has started increasing its cooperation with the South East Asian countries, to rein in the Chinese activities in the Indo-Pacific sector. Hence, the signing of cooperation agreements with Vietnam become an important stage of this initiative.
A virtual meeting was held between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, on Monday. During the meeting agreements in defence, funding assistance, nuclear power, fuel, solar energy, cooperation in the United Nations and the health sectors. Prime Minister Modi asserted that Vietnam was a main pillar of the Indian Act East policy. Prime Minister Modi added that Vietnam also has an exceptional place in the Indian Indo-Pacific policy. He also expressed confidence that the India-Vietnam cooperation will play an important role in the Indo-Pacific sector.
During the virtual meeting, Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc published the Vision Document and Plan of Action of both the countries. Meanwhile, China has started increasing pressure on Vietnam by creating a dispute over the marine region. Vietnam is looking at countries like India and the United States for cooperation to face the naval might of China. The United States has already developed strategic cooperation with Vietnam, eliminating the bitterness between the two countries. India too is contributing majorly in the security of Vietnam.
India has taken an initiative to supply High-Speed boats, necessary for marine surveillance, to Vietnam. India is providing financial assistance of a whopping $100 million, to Vietnam, for this purpose. Indian company Larsen & Toubro is manufacturing five-speed boats at its Chennai facility, for Vietnam. Seven more boats will be manufactured in Vietnam, under the guidance of this company.
China thinks that the India-Vietnam cooperation is against it. Therefore, China has always opposed the cooperation between the two countries. Moreover, China has consistently objected to the oil exploration being carried out by India, in the Vietnamese marine limits, in the South China Sea. But both the countries have continued with the cooperation, without paying any heed to the Chinese objections.
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