China build-up a major concern: naval chief

Agencies/New Delhi

India’s navy chief said yesterday that Beijing’s growing maritime strength was a “major, major cause for concern” and pledged to support a state energy firm in its contentious search for oil in the South China Sea.

Admiral D K Joshi told journalists that China’s push to upgrade its navy was “truly impressive” and said India had to adapt its own strategy accordingly.

“It is actually a major, major cause of concern for us, which we continuously evaluate and work out our options and our strategies for,” Joshi said.

“The modernisation is truly impressive,” Joshi added.

China, which put its first aircraft carrier into service in September, has been locked in a series of disputes over strategic islands in the region, including with Vietnam and the Philippines over territory in the South China Sea.

India signed a pact with Vietnam in October last year to expand oil exploration in the South China Sea.

Although Beijing has urged New Delhi not to push ahead with the project for the sake of “peace and stability,” Joshi said the Indian Navy was ready to support state energy firm ONGC and had carried out exercises in preparation.

“In certain sectors ONGC Videsh has certain interests. It has energy exploration blocks, three in number, and since it is an area of Indian interest the Indian Navy, should there be a need, would stand by,” Joshi said referring to the firm’s international subsidiary.

“Not that we expect to be in those waters very, very frequently, but when the requirement is there for situations where the country’s interests are involved, for example ONGC Videsh, we will be required to go there and we are prepared for that.

“Are we holding exercises for that nature? The short answer is ‘yes’”.

The admiral also argued that disputes over freedom of navigation within the South China Sea must be resolved in line with international treaties.

“Not only us, but everyone is of the view that they have to be resolved by the parties concerned, aligned with the international regime, which is outlined in UNCLOS (UN Convention on the Law of the Sea), that is our first requirement,” he said.

Any display of naval assertiveness by India in the South China Sea would likely fuel concern that the navies of the two rapidly growing Asian giants could be on a collision course as they seek to protect trade routes and lock in the supply of coal, minerals and other raw material from foreign sources.

“It is one of the most important international waterways and freedom of navigation there is an issue of utmost concern to India because a large portion of India’s trade is through the South China Sea,” said Brahma Chellaney, analyst at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi.

Chellaney, however, played down Joshi’s comments, saying the Indian Navy’s focus would remain on the Indian Ocean, which India views as its strategic backyard.

In September 2011, an Indian warship sailing in the South China Sea to the Vietnamese port of Haiphong was challenged when a caller identifying himself as an official of the Chinese navy warned the ship on an open radio channel that it was entering Chinese waters.

Nothing happened, the ship sailed on, and both India and China have since played down the incident, with New Delhi saying the vessel was well within international waters in the South China Sea and that there was no confrontation.

China’s neighbours are fretting about a recent Chinese media report on new rules that will allow police in the southern Chinese province of Hainan to board and seize control of foreign ships which “illegally enter” its waters from January 1.

Asked about the report of China’s plan to board ships, Joshi said India had the right to self-defence.