<p>President Pranab Mukherjee who is winding up his four-day visit to Vietnam to be on time to receive his Chinese counterpart on Thursday, said New Delhi’s dealings with Hanoi should not be seen from the “prism” of relationship with any third country.<br /><br /></p>.<p>As a sign of warming up to receive Xi and remove any irritant on this account, Mukherjee also made it clear that India’s efforts to aid Vietnam in the search of oil and gas in the South China Sea were purely a “commercial activity” since 1988 and could not be linked any issue of sovereignity between the two countries.<br /><br />On Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it will “not support” any India-Vietnam agreement to enable ONGC to explore two more oil wells as offered by Vietnam if they fall within the waters of the disputed South China Sea.<br /><br />Mukherjee told journalists on board the special aircraft, which was bringing him back from Ho Chi Minh City, that India had not commented about issues of sovereignty concerning the South China Sea.<br /><br />“One thing has to be kept in mind. OVL (ONGC Videsh Ltd) is exploring in the South China Sea from 1988. This is just a commercial action. There shouldn’t be any political angularity to be looked into it. We have not made any comment about the contentious issue about sovereignty of the South China Sea because the disputes are there between various maritime countries sharing territory in the South China Sea,” he said.<br /><br />Mukherjee’s remarks were in response to questions regarding the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s reaction to a joint statement issued by India and Vietnam.<br /><br />Mukherjee also stressed that India’s foreign policy never looked at any country “through the prism” of any third country, underscoring that there’s absolutely no relation to his visit to Vietnam before the Chinese President’s trip to India.<br /><br />Four days ago after highly “successful” talks between Mukherjee and his Vietnamese counterpart Truonh Tan Sang, both countries had issued a communique in Hanoi. India and Vietnam had minced no words in calling for “freedom of navigation” in the East Sea or the South China Sea, which was seen as sending a signal to China to exercise restraint, avoid threat or use of force and resolve disputes through peaceful means in accordance with the international law.<br /><br />Asked by Deccan Herald about his thoughts on meeting Xi while winding up his Vietnam visit, Mukherjee said both the issues were unrelated. “These are totally unrelated issues and one is not connected with the other. First of all, you shall have to remember that our external relations with each country are independent of our relations with another country. In other words, our foreign policy is never looked at other country through the prism of a third country,” Mukherjee explained.<br /></p>
<p>President Pranab Mukherjee who is winding up his four-day visit to Vietnam to be on time to receive his Chinese counterpart on Thursday, said New Delhi’s dealings with Hanoi should not be seen from the “prism” of relationship with any third country.<br /><br /></p>.<p>As a sign of warming up to receive Xi and remove any irritant on this account, Mukherjee also made it clear that India’s efforts to aid Vietnam in the search of oil and gas in the South China Sea were purely a “commercial activity” since 1988 and could not be linked any issue of sovereignity between the two countries.<br /><br />On Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it will “not support” any India-Vietnam agreement to enable ONGC to explore two more oil wells as offered by Vietnam if they fall within the waters of the disputed South China Sea.<br /><br />Mukherjee told journalists on board the special aircraft, which was bringing him back from Ho Chi Minh City, that India had not commented about issues of sovereignty concerning the South China Sea.<br /><br />“One thing has to be kept in mind. OVL (ONGC Videsh Ltd) is exploring in the South China Sea from 1988. This is just a commercial action. There shouldn’t be any political angularity to be looked into it. We have not made any comment about the contentious issue about sovereignty of the South China Sea because the disputes are there between various maritime countries sharing territory in the South China Sea,” he said.<br /><br />Mukherjee’s remarks were in response to questions regarding the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s reaction to a joint statement issued by India and Vietnam.<br /><br />Mukherjee also stressed that India’s foreign policy never looked at any country “through the prism” of any third country, underscoring that there’s absolutely no relation to his visit to Vietnam before the Chinese President’s trip to India.<br /><br />Four days ago after highly “successful” talks between Mukherjee and his Vietnamese counterpart Truonh Tan Sang, both countries had issued a communique in Hanoi. India and Vietnam had minced no words in calling for “freedom of navigation” in the East Sea or the South China Sea, which was seen as sending a signal to China to exercise restraint, avoid threat or use of force and resolve disputes through peaceful means in accordance with the international law.<br /><br />Asked by Deccan Herald about his thoughts on meeting Xi while winding up his Vietnam visit, Mukherjee said both the issues were unrelated. “These are totally unrelated issues and one is not connected with the other. First of all, you shall have to remember that our external relations with each country are independent of our relations with another country. In other words, our foreign policy is never looked at other country through the prism of a third country,” Mukherjee explained.<br /></p>
