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Key Highlights ONGC will stay put in South China Sea for exploration off the coast of Vietnam

Beijing has in the past repeatedly warned against exploration activities in the region

Vietnam in the recent past has emerged as the fulcrum of India's 'Act East' policy

NEW DELHI: Despite not having found any hydrocarbon, India's ONGC Videsh Limited (ONGC) will stay put in South China Sea for exploration off the coast of Vietnam. The Vietnam government has given another extension to OVL for exploration in deep sea Block 128, which is located in contested waters, allowing India to maintain its presence there purely for strategic reasons.

Beijing has in the past repeatedly warned against exploration activities in the region and has asked India to instead consider a ``joint development’’ with China.

This is the fourth extension to OVL for exploration in Block 128 and will expire on June 27 next year, official sources here said. OVL had earlier given up another block allotted by Vietnam for exploration and would have done the same with Block 128 had it not been for pressure from MEA to remain there.

As expected perhaps, India had earlier this year sought an extension for OVL to retain its presence in South China Sea. China itself has shown no regard for the disputed status of Gilgit-Baltistan in Jammu and Kashmir in carrying out its commercial and military activities, which are related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, in the region which India considers its own.

Vietnam in the recent past has fast emerged as the fulcrum of India’s Act East Policy which has seen the government attempting to upgrade its defence and security partnerships with countries in the region. From extending a $ 100 million line of credit to Vietnam for purchase of patrol boats to signing a joint vision statement on defence cooperation last year, India has sought to make Vietnam the focal point of its reinvigorated outreach to the east aimed not just at Asean but the wider Asia-Pacific.

PM Narendra Modi will visit Hanoi next month, on his way to China for the G 20 summit, for what will be only the third visit by an Indian prime minister to the country in the past few decades. The two others who visited Vietnam in recent times are A B Vajpayee in 2001 and Manmohan Singh in 2010.

After suggesting a shift in India’s position on South China Sea under Modi, which saw India name-checking the dispute in its joint documents with both US and Japan, the government seemed to have diluted its position again in the run up to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) plenary meeting. However, with China not relenting in its opposition to India’s bid for NSG membership, India may have to again review its position on South China Sea.

India and Vietnam recently discussed the conflicts in South China Sea and Beijing’s refusal to even acknowledge the ruling by an international tribunal which dismissed China’s claim that its 9-dash line, which covered almost 90 per cent of South China Sea waters, was based on its historically exercised exclusive control over the same.

While they did not name China, the 2 countries said in a press release, "Both sides also discussed recent developments in the maritime domain and the need for peaceful resolution of all disputes in accordance with accepted principles of international law as reflected notably in the United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982."

