India, Vietnam set to ink nuclear energy pact, boost defence ties

During Vietnam President Tran Dai Quang’s visit this week, the two sides will discuss developments in South China Sea

Indian warship INS Shivalik visited Hai Phong port in 2014. (Image: Indian Embassy)

New Delhi: In a move that could put China on the back foot, strategic partners India and Vietnam are to boost defence ties and sign pacts on civil nuclear cooperation and port development during a visit by Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang later this week.

The two countries will also exchange views on developments in the South China Sea where Vietnam and some other South-East Asian nations are locked in a maritime dispute with China, Vietnam’s ambassador to India Ton Sinh Thanh told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The three-day visit starting on Friday comes at a time when India is warily watching China make inroads into its neighbourhood with an increased naval presence as well as a stepped up infrastructure profile in countries like the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka as part of its multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative. India views South Asia and the Indian Ocean Region as its traditional sphere of influence while China sees the South China Sea as its backyard. In the past, China has objected to India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd exploring for oil in blocks off the Vietnamese coast in the South China Sea—claiming it to be in its territorial waters.

President Tran Dai Quang’s first visit to India will start from Bodh Gaya, a noted Buddhist site that is frequented by pilgrims from Japan and South-East Asia. On the second day of his visit on Saturday, he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind.

Of the 26 countries that Vietnam has a strategic partnership with, “the level of the strategic partnership with India is the highest,” Ton Sinh Thanh said, adding that there was “strong political trust” between the two countries as there was a “strong convergence of strategic interests.”

The Vietnamese president’s visit would aim to make the partnership more comprehensive with the addition of economic, scientific and cultural elements, he said, adding that one of the agreements expected to be signed was in the area of peaceful uses of civil nuclear energy.

Apart from the civil nuclear pact, which will be signed between the two governments, three other pacts—including one on the development of a port in the Nghe An province in north-central Vietnam —will be signed with Indian companies, Tran Le Tien, economic counsellor in the Vietnamese embassy in New Delhi, said.

Indian companies will be looking at “developing the port for operations, to raise its capacity to 5 million tonnes (cargo handling) capacity,” he said. Another pact envisages the setting up a $50 million coal terminal in Vietnam, Tran Le Tien said.

According to the ambassador, the two countries will aim to deepen trade and defence ties during the president’s trip. India had extended a $500 million line of credit to purchase military equipment during a visit by Modi to Vietnam in 2016. This was in addition to another $100 million extended in 2014. “We are buying some equipment from India for the (Vietnamese) army and navy,” Ton Sinh Thanh said, but did not confirm media reports that the Vietnamese government had purchased the India-Russia co-developed BrahMos cruise missile.

The situation in the “South China Sea will be discussed” with Indian leaders, the ambassador said, describing the current state of the dispute as “complicated.” China and other countries that are party to the dispute had agreed to a code of conduct in the South China Sea aimed at minimizing friction, he said.

Source: Livemint

Vietnamese Russian-made Frigate Gepard 3.9 Ly Thai To launches Kh-35 Uran-E missle

After the orders of the commanders, the fighters pressed the fire button, the Uran missile slowly escaped from the battleship launcher of 012 Ly Thai To. Just a few seconds after leaving the launch pad, the missile struck the target at sea.

Kh-35 Uranus-E has a maximum range of 130km, subsonic speed of 980km/h, equipped with advanced navigation system with independent radar ARGS-35E which has the ability to detect targets, Correctly align missiles without interference from the "mother ship". The 145kg warhead was rated as capable of sinking ships of 4,000-5,000 tons.

At present, the Brigade 162, Region 4 of Vietnam People's Navy fully owns 012 Ly Thai To and 011 Dinh Tien Hoang. We can independently deploy combat weapons without the assistance of Russian specialists.

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The British are Coming to the South China Sea

British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson recently announced that the Royal Navy would be conducting a South China Sea Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) after its visit to Australia later this year. His statement also contained a rare full-throated specific endorsement of U.S. FONOPs in the region. “We absolutely support the U.S. approach on this, we very much support what the U.S. has been doing,” he commented, adding, “The U.S. can only concentrate on so many things at once. The U.S. is looking for other countries to do more. This is a great opportunity for the U.K. and Australia to do more, to exercise leadership.”

I am sure that Williamson’s comments were warmly welcomed in Washington: It seems clear that current U.S. policy seeks to encourage or even push allies to conduct South China Sea FONOPs. During his recent joint appearance with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, President Trump said he would “love for Australia” to join U.S. FONOPs in the South China Sea. Turnbull did not rule out such FONOPs, and neither did Australia’s foreign minister Julie Bishop during a recent television interview. This not-so-subtle U.S. pressure is also highlighted by the nomination of U.S. Pacific Command chief Adm. Harry Harris (a China hawk) to the position of U.S. ambassador to Australia.

In the past, the U.S. has also sought to encourage FONOPs in the South China Sea by the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces. In 2016, then-French Defense Minister (and current Foreign Minister) Jean-Yves Le Drian has expressed interest in bolstering Europe’s maritime presence in the South China Sea. India, a member of the emerging “Quad” in the Indo-Pacific (along with Japan, the U.S. and Australia) is an obvious candidate to conduct FONOPs as well.

A skeptic might ask: How will FONOPs by other countries help deter Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea if U.S. FONOPs alone have not done so? The Chinese state media is already sneering at the no-longer-mighty Royal Navy daring to interfere in the region. The U.S. does not lack naval firepower; what it has largely lacked, until now, was action by other countries demonstrating support for its views on freedom of navigation rights in the South China Sea. Britain is about to provide such tangible support, and as a bonus, it is also calling on Australia to do the same.

Officially, FONOPs are merely expressions of a country’s views about its rights under international law. But China’s increasingly harsh public criticisms of FONOPs have actually transformed these operations into a useful tool for demonstrating a country’s willingness to suffer Chinese disapprobation. That is certainly what FONOPs have become for the United States.

While the U.S. has shown its willingness to irritate or even anger China, up until now, countries like Britain and (especially) Australia have not. This reticence is probably due to those countries’ strong economic ties with China. Getting those countries to join FONOPs will bolster the U.S. view of international law, but, more significantly, it will bolster confidence that countries other than the U.S. are willing to defy China on this sensitive point. That is why it will be important to convince Japan and India to join the FONOP party at some point as well, in order to demonstrate those countries’ confidence in their ability to withstand withering Chinese criticism and anger.

FONOPs, even joint FONOPs with other nations, will not by itself roll back China’s expansion in the South China Sea. But more FONOPs conducted by more nations will globalize the dispute beyond U.S.-China relations and make China incur new costs for its policies. Hopefully, they will also cause China to think twice about further regional expansionism. - Lawfare

China sends Su-35 fighter jet for patrolling the South China Sea

China's Defense Ministry website on Feb. 9, 1818, published a video showing that its Su-35 fighter jets participated in patrols in the South China Sea. This video also shows scenes of Su-35 missile firing. The Su-35 is a Russian 4+ generation fighter developed from the Sukhoi multirole fighter platform.

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