GROWING INDIA-VIETNAM DEFENCE RELATIONS

In recent years, relations between India and Vietnam have reached a greater height, especially in the defence sector. The strength of the commitment towards stronger ties can be seen by the fact that India, in a first, transferred an indigenously built in-service missile corvette, INS Kirpan, of the Indian Navy to Vietnam People’s Navy in June 2023 and handed over to Vietnam People’s Navy on July 22^nd, 2023 by Indian Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar at Cam Ranh in Vietnam. The announcement was made by the Indian Defence Minister Rajanth Singh during a visit of the Vietnamese counterpart Gen Phan Van Giang to India from 17-19 June. This transfer has been seen as the fulfilment of India’s commitment to assist ‘like-minded partners’ to enhance their defensive capabilities. The handover of the INS Kirpan to Vietnam serves as one of the many steps taken by India to fulfil the objectives of the ambitious SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) initiative and also the principles of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.These growing defence ties between New Delhi and Hanoi are fostering tensions in Beijing as China and Vietnam have crossed swords over the South China Sea and India has been recently vocal about Vietnam's stance on the application of international law and the peaceful settlement of conflicts in the South China Sea. 

Birth of India-Vietnam Defence Ties

India had made ties with and has also been involved in Vietnam since its independence, as can be witnessed with Indian PM Pandit Nehru’s visit to Vietnam in 1954 and India being the chairman of the International Commission for Supervision and Control (ICSC) to aid the peace process in Vietnam. With the launch of the Look East Policy by India in 1994 under Narasimha Rao, India and Vietnam signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Defence Cooperation Agreement centred on military exchanges, visits, and training. When Vietnamese PM Phan Van Khai visited India in 2000, the two countries inked one of their early defence cooperation agreements, which paved the way for further cooperation between the two forces. The focus of India-Vietnam defence cooperation and a significant element of the bilateral strategic relations has been training, joint exercises, exchange of protocols, and operational manuals. India and Vietnam have also developed naval cooperation, which includes joint training programmes for aviation, dockyards, and submarines. In 2014, during Indian President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit, India announced a US $100 million line of credit to Vietnam. As a part of it, a contract of 12 offshore patrol vessels was signed between the Vietnam Border Guards and M/s. Larsen & Toubro Ltd. in September 2016. PM Modi announced a new line of credit worth US $500 million during his visit to Vietnam in 2016, as well as US $5 million in funding for the construction of an Army Software Park at the Telecommunications University in Nha Trang. In India’s Act East Policy, which focusses on extended neighbourhood in the Asia-Pacific region, Vietnam is an important pillar and the very fact is admitted by the Indian PM Narendra Modi during virtual summit with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in 2020. Vietnam is important for India as it not only an important trading partner or a defence partner in the region but also it supports India’s claim for the permanent seat in the UNSC.

Both countries have also been conducting Security Dialogues since November 2003. the  13th edition took place in January 2021 and for the first time, labelled as ‘Defence Security Dialogue’. Marine cooperation is an important aspect of the bilateral relationship and the inaugural India-Vietnam Marine Security Dialogue was conducted in March 2019. India is increasing its participation in the Vietnamese defence sector by enhancing current services to upgrade the current stock of Soviet-era military hardware, including thermal sights fire control systems for armoured vehicles, T-54 and T-55 tanks, and M-17/MI-8 helicopters, as well as upgrading Vietnam's Petya-class light frigates for anti-submarine warfare. This is so because India itself has been a long term Russian defence partner and seasoned of the Russian military technology. Vietnam's reliance on Russia is reduced by India's ability to train its military personnel on Russia's Su-30 Fighter and Kilo Class submarines. India is rising as the defence exporter at the global stage and Vietnam could benefit from it in the long term as the Indian military hardware is lot cheaper than compared to US and that of other European countries. India also offers line of credit. Brahmos cruise missiles, the Akash missile air defence system, Varunastra anti-submarine torpedoes, and coastal radars have all been offered by India to Vietnam. Since sanctions have been imposed on Moscow by the West amid the Russian-Ukraine conflict, the need arises for Vietnam to look for different defence partners and be more self-reliant. And the ‘Joint Vision Statement on the India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030’ signed by the two defence ministers in June 2022, which aims to enhance the scope and scale of existing defence cooperation, could be step towards that.

Why It Concerns China?

It is not a hidden fact that China has differences with both India and Vietnam on border issues. Since the Galwan incident in 2020, tensions are present in the LAC even after a series of talks between the officials of both sides. On the other hand, Vietnam has settled its territorial border disputes with China after completing a decade-long demarcation of the border in 2009.  Even though the dispute over the land border has been resolved between Vietnam and China, the major dispute between the two still lies in the South China Sea, where there is an undefined maritime border and disputes over the territorial waters and the ownership of islands like the Spratly and Paracel Islands are present. Both China and Vietnam have accused each other’s boats of violating their exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and instances of confrontation have also come between the two sides for a long time, whether it be the confrontation between the two in 2014, in which the matter escalated to the ramming of ships, or recently in May 2023 when Chinese vessels ignored Vietnam’s demand to leave its EEZ.

In a dispute involving China's maritime claims, a UNCLOS-established international arbitral tribunal decided in favour of the Philippines in 2016 and declared the nine-dash line to be without legal foundation. However, the decision was rejected by China as it claims its own ‘nine-dash line’ as the demarcation of the maritime border in the South China Sea, and if China agrees to UNCLOS, it would have a great negative impact on the strategic advantage of China in the region. The South China Sea is important for the region as it is the second most used waterway in the world with trade worth US $200 billion passing through every year. According to an estimate approximately 40 percent of the China’s total trade and 80 percent of energy imports passed through the South China Sea in 2016. The Sea is an important fishing ground for the Southeast Asian nations. The stability and peace in the South China Sea are essential for Vietnam as 80 percent of its people reside within 160 km of the coast of the Sea. This sea also facilitates 86 percent of Hanoi’s trade with the outside world and have many oil fields. India’s ONGC Videsh has been active with Vietnam in the oil exploration and drilling in the sea. India has been asked to help Vietnam and other ASEAN countries stabilise naval cooperation and counterbalance China’s aggression in the area.

It is well known that India is interested in the Indo-Pacific and sees the area as an organic maritime space with the ASEAN at its centre. India and Vietnam signed an agreement in October 2011 for the promotion and expansion of oil exploration in the South China Sea which is objected to by China. A strong India and Vietnam are in no interest of China and with increasing defence ties between Hanoi and New Delhi, the long-term objectives of Beijing in the region could be threatened as India poses a direct competition to the Chinese hegemony in the region and Beijing is aware of this. In 2011, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua stated that increasing India-Vietnam relations would create challenges for China and in 2016 The Global Times warned India that India posture towards South China Sea would harm the relations between the two. n April 2023, during a delegation-level meeting on bilateral security cooperation between India and Vietnam, one of the major dimensions of the meeting was both parties reaffirmed their commitment to preserving and advancing peace, stability, marine safety, and freedom of overflight and navigation in the Indo-Pacific region. Not mentioning the name of China, its aggressive policies in the South China Sea and Indo-Tibetan border were discussed and both parties underlined their stance that any conflicts must be settled peacefully while upholding international law without the use of threats, violence, or a unilateral or coercive change in the status quo. Both India and Vietnam are increasing their defence expenditure and trying to build a force of deterrence. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, some of the highest increases in military spending in Southeast Asia have been in Vietnam. From USD 841 million in 2003 to USD 5.5 billion in 2018, its military budget surged by over 700 per cent between 2003 and 2018. For the first time, Vietnam hosted an international defence expo in 2022 seeking to diversify its defence procurement. A strong Vietnam is in no interest of China as it could possess a threat to China’s long-term strategic interests in the South China Sea.

Conclusion

Vietnam has become an important pillar for India’s Act East Policy and Indo-Pacific Vision in Southeast Asia. Both countries are advancing in their strategic partnership and planning to go past the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership; defence and security cooperation is an important element of this partnership. In the areas of the Blue Economy and maritime security, India and Vietnam may mutually gain from one another. Both India and Vietnam view their partnerships strategically for the long term and are certain that working together will assist to maintain peace and stability in the region.

This increasing partnership between India and Vietnam can act as a counterbalance to the rising influence of China in the region and might compel Beijing to retrospect its current stance on the South China Sea dispute. As a result of their strategic alliance, India and Vietnam are now able to negotiate changing regional dynamics and address prevalent issues such as those brought on by China's rise. Their cooperation strengthens Indo-Pacific peace and security and fosters the development of a more balanced regional structure, as this cooperation acts against the birth of hegemony by any power in the region and rather promotes multipolarity.