Abstract
The People’s Liberation Army Navy’s deployment of ships and submarines in the Indian Ocean region (IOR) has been an enormous source of apprehension in India, which fears encirclement by China. To counter China, the Indian navy has started regular port visits with friendly states such as Vietnam and the Philippines. The Indian government has revived the somewhat dormant “Look East” policy and rechristened it as “Act East” policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As a part of this newly revised “Act East” policy India aims to develop stronger relations with states that have ongoing disputes with China in the South China Sea such as Vietnam and the Philippines. India has sought to pressure Beijing on the maritime front in an area that is rife with conflict and overlapping territorial claims. India’s maritime strategy is increasingly shifting to sea-control and forward looking naval diplomacy. Vietnam has emerged as a focal state in India’s “Act East” policy and as a strategic partner in countering China’s maritime assertiveness. This chapter examines India’s growing closeness and strategic partnership with Vietnam, which is emerging as a frontline state in India’s eastward pivot, as the territorial conflict and competition with the People’s Republic of China is intensifying. India’s overtures towards Vietnam should be understood in the context of India’s territorial conflict with China and the growing crosscutting international alliance that is emerging against China’s territorial expansionism and aggressiveness in South China and East China Sea. India does not have a direct stake in the South China Sea maritime dispute, but it increasingly views China’s highly assertive and domineering behavior as a harbinger of Chinese actions in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), and in the highly contentious border dispute in the Himalayas.
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Notes
- 1.
Dikshit (2011).
- 2.
Nelson (2012).
- 3.
Miks (2011).
- 4.
Parameswaran (2014).
- 5.
Mazumdaru (2015).
- 6.
“India Wary of Assertive China, Intrusive Pakistan, IAF Chief Arup Raha says,” Times of India, 29 November 2014 <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-wary-of-assertive-China-intrusive-Pakistan-IAF-chief-Arup-Raha-says/articleshow/45319045.cms>
- 7.
Khurana (2008).
- 8.
The White House (2014).
- 9.
Harrismarch (2014).
- 10.
Krishnan (2012a).
- 11.
Krishnan (2012a).
- 12.
White (2015).
- 13.
Seethi (2013).
- 14.
Smith (2009).
- 15.
Tiezzi (2015a).
- 16.
Malik (2007).
- 17.
Text of United States House Resolution 1077, 110th, U.S. Congress, 2007–2009, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/hres1077/text
- 18.
Arnoldy (2009).
- 19.
Shukla (2011).
- 20.
The Sikh Archives (2011).
- 21.
Kanwal (2012).
- 22.
Joshi (2013).
- 23.
CNN-IBN News “India Slams China on Sikkim Intrusion,” 19 June 2008, http://ibnlive.in.com/news/india-slams-china-says-sikkim-is-a-settled-issue/67403-3.html
- 24.
Mandhana (2014).
- 25.
Press Trust of India (2013).
- 26.
Mandhana (2014).
- 27.
Malik (2013).
- 28.
Finkelstein (2011).
- 29.
Erickson (2013).
- 30.
Erickson (2013).
- 31.
Lamothe (2015).
- 32.
Krishnan (2012b).
- 33.
Krishnan (2012b).
- 34.
McCurry (2015).
- 35.
Rosenbergmay (2015).
- 36.
Hardy and O’Connor (2014).
- 37.
Brunnstrom and Martina (2015).
- 38.
Shambaugh (2001).
- 39.
Keck (2014).
- 40.
Roche (2015).
- 41.
Panda (2014a).
- 42.
Ministry of External Affairs (2014a).
- 43.
Ministry of External Affairs (2014a).
- 44.
Ministry of External Affairs (2014a).
- 45.
Ministry of External Affairs (2014a).
- 46.
- 47.
The White House (2015).
- 48.
The White House (2015).
- 49.
The White House (2015).
- 50.
Som (2015).
- 51.
Som (2015).
- 52.
President of India (2015).
- 53.
President of India (2015).
- 54.
Mehra (2014).
- 55.
The Times of India (2014).
- 56.
Ministry of External Affairs (2014b).
- 57.
Embassy of Vietnam (2007).
- 58.
Thayer (2014a).
- 59.
Haidar (2014).
- 60.
Pandit (2014).
- 61.
Pandit (2014).
- 62.
Khanh and Anh Thu (2014).
- 63.
Business Standard (2014a).
- 64.
Quinn (2012).
- 65.
Alford (2014).
- 66.
Pomfret (2010).
- 67.
Panda (2014b).
- 68.
Thayer (2014b).
- 69.
Thayer (2014b).
- 70.
Bentley (2014).
- 71.
Thayer (2014c).
- 72.
Panda (2014c).
- 73.
Thayer (2014b).
- 74.
Sanger and Gladstone (2015).
- 75.
Choong (2015).
- 76.
Sanger and Gladstone (2015).
- 77.
Marshall (2015).
- 78.
Marshall (2015).
- 79.
China Central Television News (CCTV) (2012).
- 80.
Miglani and Wilkes (2014).
- 81.
Business Standard (2014b).
- 82.
Gates (2010).
- 83.
Chen (2015).
- 84.
Crispin (2015).
- 85.
Tiezzi (2015b).
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Sitaraman, S. (2016). Rising Chinese Power and Territorial Assertiveness in the South China Sea: India-Vietnam Strategic Partnership as a Counterbalancing Endeavor. In: Fels, E., Vu, TM. (eds) Power Politics in Asia’s Contested Waters. Global Power Shift. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26152-2_19
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