India and Vietnam have always maintained a warm relationship — going back to the time when Vietnam was engaged in its life-and-death war against the United States in which it ultimately emerged victorious. This relationship has, however, now attained geopolitical dimensions with China, which has also been beaten back by Vietnam, making threatening noises against Indian support for oil exploration in Vietnamese waters as Beijing claims almost the whole of the South China Sea as its own. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Hanoi cements this partnership, in which a dozen agreements were signed, including in defence cooperation, trade expansion, oil exploration, cooperation in solar energy, the building of an information technology infrastructure, and in the health sector.
In the present context, however, the most noteworthy is India extending a line of credit of $500 million to Vietnam to strengthen its defence sector. Mr Modi made no bones about deepening defence and security engagements with Vietnam in order to advance the two countries’ common interests.
At his luncheon banquet speech on Saturday, the Prime Minister spoke of the two partners “jointly facing emerging regional challenges, and to exploit new opportunities”. He also spoke of India taking satisfaction from the nature and direction of the bilateral relationship.
All concerned are aware that the principal “regional challenge” is Beijing’s aggressive posture in relation to the South China Sea. The opportunities in question are India seeking to deepen ties with Asean, particularly with Vietnam being the Asean coordinator for India.
