His visit comes ahead of the G20 Summit scheduled to be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou next month in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take part.
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Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan have overlapping claims with China to islands in the South China Sea and East China Sea, a region that has significant oil and gas reserves and is a route for billions of dollars in yearly trade.
An global arbitration tribunal in the PCA ruled on July 12 that China violated the Philippines’ rights in the South China Sea, one of the busiest commercial shipping routes in the world. It suggested India forget about the South China Sea and place more emphasis on “boosting sustainable development in its export manufacturing”. And there is speculation that India could be selling Hanoi the BrahMos cruise missile, jointly produced by India and Russian Federation. It will open a new page in bilateral relationship. “Preparation for the visit is going on”, he said during a media interaction at the Foreign Correspondents Club here.
While Modi is not travelling to NY for this year’s United Nations General Assembly meeting, he will be in Laos for just over 24 hours during the September 7-8 East Asia and India-Asean summits, making it hard to squeeze in a meeting with Obama on that occasion. According to government officials in New Delhi, the Vietnam visit will be combined with these two, though the precise dates have not been made public.
India advocates freedom of navigation and respecting worldwide laws in the South China Sea Waters. “Other countries should not use force or threat of force in the South China Sea”, Thanh said.
An global tribunal’s ruling against China over contested reefs and atolls in the South China Sea has not stopped Beijing from continuing its military buildup in the sea, recently released satellite images show.
Asked whether Brahmos would be on the table during Modi’s visit, Thanh said while Vietnam appreciates India’s “achievements” in the defence sector, “whatever we buy is for self-defence”.
He also said that despite tensions over South China Sea conflict and other territorial and other issues, both India and Vietnam would want good relations with China. About the state of bilateral ties, Hua said China-India relationship has been developing fast and sound in all aspects following Xi’s visit to India in 2014 and Modi’s visit to China previous year.
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On economic relations, Thanh said India had invested $550 million in the South-east Asian country and this amount was expected to grow with Indian companies looking to invest in the country.
