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India's South China Sea foray raises eyebrows

The Indian navy's decision to hold joint military exercises with Vietnam in the South China Sea, a region of vital interest both to China and the United States, is being perceived in Washington with a modicum of interest tinged with concern over its possible repercussions.

The Washington Times quoted what it calls a little noticed statement of Defence Minister George Fernandes having said that Indian naval and Coast Guard ships would shortly launch joint training and exercises with their counterparts from Vietnam and Japan to stem the increasing menace of pirates in the international waters.

The daily says the move appears certain to antagonise China, an ally of India's archenemy Pakistan. Beijing claims sovereignty over the Spratly Islands and other shoals and islands throughout the South China Sea.

A confrontation could quickly draw in the United States, which has pledged to maintain free navigation through the sea, one of the world's most strategic waterways. Vast quantities of West Asian oil pass through the sea en route to Japan and South Korea, it says.

The announcement comes as India is beefing up its so-called ''blue water'' navy by seeking to add a second and possibly a third aircraft carrier and one or more submarines capable of firing long-range missiles.

The daily quotes Stratfor, a private intelligence reporting group based in Austin, Texas, as saying India plans to leave four to five warships, a submarine and air-reconnaissance planes in the South China Sea for some time after the exercises end. It is also preparing to launch a kilo-class submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles, Stratfor said.

It says Japan's involvement in the exercises will be limited due to its pacifist constitution to supporting anti-piracy operations, the group said. However, Vietnam, which recently signed an agreement to train Indian troops in jungle warfare, will directly engage in military naval exercises.

It quotes Larry Wortzel, director of the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation, as saying that India's decision to sail into the South China Sea ''is inflammatory, and it is meant to antagonise China.''

''This is a dangerous way for India to respond to China's incursion into their sphere of influence in Bangladesh, Burma and Pakistan,'' he said, adding that the United States will have to increasingly take on the burden of protecting international navigation in the region if India and China are at each other's throats.

Vietnam repelled a cross-border attack by China in 1979 and fought at sea with China over the Spratlys in 1988.

The foray into the South China Sea comes as a counterpoint to China's setting up naval and intelligence bases on Burma's Coco Islands off the northern tip of India's Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Indian Ocean.

The daily also quotes a senior US official as saying that India's naval exercises are ''not done to poke a finger in Beijing's eye, but to rehearse their capability to function as a blue-water navy and let people know they are around.''

China is still considered to possess only a ''green water'' or coastal navy, although it, too, is working to build long-range naval power, the official said.

The US official, who was deeply involved in President Bill Clinton's recent visit to India, said there was no US effort to use India as a counterbalance to China's growing power.

''India is not going to become part of a formal alliance against any country in Asia,'' he said. ''We would not ask India to do that in any event. But what the naval exercises will do is underscore that India is beginning to arrive as a serious player.''

The Washington Times quoted a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in the US capital as having said that any naval exercise in the South China Sea ''must not violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countries in the region.''

Defence analyst Marvin Ott of the National Defence University in Washington said ''the naval mission means India is injecting itself into the great territorial dispute over the South China Sea.''

UNI

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