It was bound to happen eventually. With China’s rapidly increasing involvement in India’s backyard in places like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal (not to mention Pakistan and Afghanistan), Indian policymakers were bound to want to try and up the ante in China’s neighbourhood too. And now they’re doing just that.
India has already been stepping up bilateral strategic cooperation with countries around China. But later this month, it’s set to engage in China’s neighbourhood at the highest level when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh embarks on his three-nation Asian tour on October 24. The trip will see him take in Japan and Malaysia (for bilateral visits) and Vietnam for the India-ASEAN summit. India-Japan ties are already on a high, and will likely be bolstered further during Singh’s visit to Tokyo when the number two and number three economies in Asia are expected to sign a civilian nuclear energy cooperation agreement.
India’s engagement with the Association of South East Asian Nations, meanwhile, has further deepened following the successful conclusion of the first ASEAN Plus Eight Defence Ministers’ meeting in Hanoi that India also attended.
Shortly after this meeting, Indian Defense Minister AK Antony announced that India and Vietnam had decided to intensify defence cooperation covering all three services.
They intend to do this is in a number of ways, with measures having been discussed and approved when Antony met the Vietnamese leadership, including Defence Minister Gen Phung Quang Thanh, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and President Nguyen Minh Triet.
Antony went on record as saying that India will beef up Vietnam’s defence forces’ capabilities and that it will be focusing on cooperation with the Vietnamese Navy. For example, as well as increasing port calls to Vietnam, the Indian Navy will also offer to help develop maintenance and repair platforms in Vietnamese ports.
The Indian Army will also be training its Vietnamese counterpart in developing its IT infrastructure and will be taking on the role of English teacher for Vietnamese Army personnel. In addition, India, which is famous for its mountain and jungle warfare training, will be sharing its expertise with the Vietnamese from next year.
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JJ
This is the right move in the right direction.
India needs to engage meaningfully with more countries in the African region also in the near future.
Hariharan
Defense is a must. Trade is equally important. Discussing a free trade agreement with ASEAN would be a good start. Japan is setting up a trillion dollar sovereign wealth fund. The PM should make a convincing case for the Japanese to come invest in India’s infrastructure. Recently, there was some chatter in “The Hindu” about inviting Chinese investments for building roads and rail. About an year ago, the Malaysian prime minister had expressed interest in diverting part of his country’s central provident fund into investments in India. Perhaps that was just a news article but nothing was heard about it later on. A few months ago, PM Manmohan Singh had a red carpet welcome in Saudi Arabia too and had discussed about the Saudis investing their petrodollars. No diplomatic follow ups on that either. As China plays an ugly trade war with the West, there is a convincing case for India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka to take over some of those large manufacturing contracts. Cheaper labor and a freely traded currency would work well trading with the US and the EU — could be easily pushed through the WTO.
Without a strong economy, military maneuvers are moot.
John Chan
I hope people talk more about businesses and living standards instead of guns and daggers.
ngoa long
India together with the US, Japan and Australia will be a great help in counterweighting China’s ambitions in Asia. Any way, as a traditional democracy in South Asia, India will be a big player in maintaining and enhancing peace and prosperity for Asia against any ambitious adventurism and hegemony of authoritarian undemocratic regimes in the region! Go ahead, India!
NL
Praveen Kumar
Off late this can be termed as one of the most diplomatically wise maneuvres by India. China was of the view that India is too bogged down by the problems in its own neighbourhood to create trouble in China’s backyard. The vietnamese engagement will also provide a solid base for India to project its soft power in the ASEAN.
ngoa long
Nice words should be translated into good actions not bad behavior! World loves Peace not War! And Soft not Hard Power!
Will China be becoming a responsible world power or just a ‘China: A Rogue Economic Superpower’ as Paul Krugman, New York Times, has written? Time will tell! And the world is praying!
NL
SE962582C
It has to put into Context that Viet-Nam CANNOT really, actually or possibly militarily take on China, nor, and neither could, Bangladesh the East Bengal, Nepal or Ceylon the Sri-Lanka militarily take on India the Hindustan either; and the value of Viet-Nam (every-one HAS a Price; O Yes!) to India the Hindustan and to the Indians/Hindustanis are thus that therefore necessarily limited.
Having said all of that, still, ANY Co-Operation, even military and defensive ones, is and are to be a Good thing, at least for the Vietnamese anyway, and anyhow.
‘Not so sure about the English “Teachers” from India the Hindustan though, be it North, East or South, and of whom they are obviously NOT the Real McCoy; and especially if the Teachers are to be teaching the Speaking of and Spoken English.
Randy
It’s time to put a BIG STOP SIGN to Chinese expansionism. To pick a trust- worthy, battle-harden partner like Vietnam, India is on her right move. Within South East Asia and around China’s neighbours, Vietnam has been long rivalry history with China. She also has the most respectable, capable armforces with historic credentials. Vietnam understands China the most and is also the most effective obstacle to Chinese greedy expansionism….
Dan
The China suffered tremendous losses during Japan occupation and had been exploiting (rightly) moral guilt from Japan for decades. Unfortunately, China is in the direction of doing to their neighbors what Japan did to them. Vietnam will be the first and bear most of this if not all.
Vietnam has never been lack of will and have repeatedly showed that there are limits on how much larger, stronger and more powerful countries oppress smaller ones. Albeit, Vietnam is currently lack of capability. India-Vietnam cooperation will help both countries to defend aggression from more powerful states.
TT
You want to fight the Chinese then take Vietnam on your side, they are the only people in the world that could fight back the Chinese invasion several times in history and they have plenty of experiences how to fight super power nations.
Tom
This is a very good move of India. Economically, Vietnam is an oil-rich, 2nd rice-exporter, and more importantly they are on the run rapidly. Militarily, they have a historically proven army which has been capable of playing with top-level forces. The ties will bring Indian companies many contracts for sure.
Luong
There should be no reason in this world why an evil fascist country like china should exist. All freedom-loving people of the world must unite to destroy china and break it into 1,000 smaller pieces for all of humanity to live in peace. Amen.