Act East Policy: Why India-Vietnam strategic cooperation matters
Act East Policy:
Why India-Vietnam strategic cooperation matters
WRITTEN BY NIRANJAN MARJANI
2 April 2020
Vice President of Vietnam Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh visited India from 11 to 13 February. This visit is one of the increasing numbers of engagements between India and Southeast Asia in general and India and Vietnam in particular. During this visit both the countries agreed upon diversifying their ties but stressing on strategic cooperation. The Vietnamese vice president’s visit could be considered one more step forward in India-Vietnam strategic cooperation.
The strategic cooperation between both the countries is important for their bilateral relations. But it is also important for India’s outreach to Southeast Asia and for the success of Act East Policy. This could be considered from the three points of view: the nature of India’s outreach to Southeast Asia, Vietnam’s territorial disputes with China and the role of India-Vietnam strategic cooperation in India’s Southeast Asia policy.
India’s outreach to Southeast Asia
In the past few years India has been increasing its engagements with Southeast Asia. In 2014 India reframed the Look East Policy of 1992 as Act East Policy. The new policy is supposed to apply a renewed focus on the region. Act East Policy is also supposed to add strategic dimension to India’s engagement with Southeast Asia.
India-Vietnam strategic cooperation stands out from India’s relations with rest of the ASEAN because India, due to its involvement in oil exploration, is a stakeholder in a region that is subject to dispute between Vietnam and China.
India has been showing its intent to participate in the geopolitics of Southeast Asia and also Indo-Pacific in general. So far the nature of India’s engagements has largely been diplomatic in nature. Some of the prominent diplomatic engagements have been ASEAN leaders attending India’s Republic Day parade in 2018 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s keynote address at the Shangri La Dialogue, also in 2018. Proposal of multilateralism, freedom of navigation and rules-based order have been the underlying principles of India’s concept of free and open Indo-Pacific.
Vietnam’s territorial disputes with China
Vietnam, along with Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines and Taiwan, has territorial disputes with China. Construction of artificial islands and their militarization are viewed as a part of China’s strategic assertion across South China Sea. Vietnam and China has disputes over sovereignty of Paracel and Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Vietnam and China have also been involved in the disputes over Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the former.
In recent times, there has been increasing friction between Vietnam and China. The reason for this dispute has been China’s incursions into Vietnam’s EEZ between July and October 2019. China had sent survey ship to conduct seismic surveys into the waters within 200 nautical miles from Vietnam. In response to these incursions Vietnam is exploring options to counter China’s actions. Constant disputes over the resource-rich South China Sea make it economically and strategically sensitive region for the regional and extra regional powers.
India-Vietnam strategic cooperation
In September 2016, India and Vietnam entered into a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This agreement was entered into with India announcing a $500 million defence line of credit which is the biggest defence line of credit offered by India. Both India and Vietnam expressed shared concern that security is a prerequisite for economic progress. It is significant that this partnership came into effect immediately after China refused to recognize and accept international tribunal’s ruling on South China Sea territorial disputes.
Another dimension of India’s strategic cooperation with Vietnam is that an Indian company ONGC Videsh is engaged in oil exploration at Block 06.1 in Vietnam’s EEZ. In August 2019, there were attempts from China to halt ONGC Videsh’s operations. This was during the same time period when Chinese ships had been entering Vietnam’s EEZ.
It is important to look at India-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership from the point of view of India’s involvement in the Indo-Pacific. India’s involvement in the region has mostly been benign. India is an active participant in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations. India has always played an important role in providing relief during the times of natural disasters. India’s strategic cooperation with Southeast Asia until now has been in the form of military exercises with ASEAN countries.
India-Vietnam strategic cooperation stands out from India’s relations with rest of the ASEAN because India, due to its involvement in oil exploration, is a stakeholder in a region that is subject to dispute between Vietnam and China.
India has maintained that its Indo-Pacific policy would be ASEAN centric. The United States considers India as a counter balance to China in the Indo-Pacific. However India is less likely to be an alliance partner of the United States. India needs to develop its own strategy to forward its interests.
There is still scope for India-Vietnam strategic relations to develop further. India needs to define more clearly its strategic interests and ways to protect them. In this case strategic cooperation with Vietnam could be a template for India’s strategic outreach to Southeast Asia.
DISCLAIMER: All views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of the 9DASHLINE.com platform.
Author biography
Niranjan Marjani is an Independent Journalist and Researcher based in Vadodara. His areas of interest are India’s foreign policy, international relations and geopolitics. He writes articles for various national and international publications. His articles mostly focus on the strategic angle of international politics. Image credit: by Ministry of External Affairs (India)/Flickr.