India prepared to protect oil interests
Source: Agencies |
December 4, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
INDIA is prepared to deploy vessels to the South China Sea to protect the country's oil interests there, its navy chief said yesterday.
Indian state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp has a stake in a gas field in the sea off Vietnam's south coast.
Admiral DK Joshi said that while India was not a claimant in the dispute over territorial rights in the South China Sea, it was prepared to act, if necessary, to protect its maritime and economic interests in the region.
"When the requirement is there, for example, in situations where our country's interests are involved, for example ONGC ... we will be required to go there and we are prepared for that," Joshi told reporters.
"Now, are we preparing for it? Are we having exercises of that nature? The short answer is yes," he said.
He described the modernization of China's navy as "truly impressive" and acknowledged it was a source of major concern for India.
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 a Chinese naval official 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 neighbors are fretting about a recent Chinese media report on new rules that would 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.
The Philippines have called the plan "illegal" and Singapore, home to the world's second-busiest container port, said it was concerned.
Asked about the report, Joshi said India had the right to self-defense.
Indian state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp has a stake in a gas field in the sea off Vietnam's south coast.
Admiral DK Joshi said that while India was not a claimant in the dispute over territorial rights in the South China Sea, it was prepared to act, if necessary, to protect its maritime and economic interests in the region.
"When the requirement is there, for example, in situations where our country's interests are involved, for example ONGC ... we will be required to go there and we are prepared for that," Joshi told reporters.
"Now, are we preparing for it? Are we having exercises of that nature? The short answer is yes," he said.
He described the modernization of China's navy as "truly impressive" and acknowledged it was a source of major concern for India.
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 a Chinese naval official 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 neighbors are fretting about a recent Chinese media report on new rules that would 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.
The Philippines have called the plan "illegal" and Singapore, home to the world's second-busiest container port, said it was concerned.
Asked about the report, Joshi said India had the right to self-defense.
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