India sends message to China with naval drill with Vietnam in South China Sea, navy-to-navy deal with Australia

India on Wednesday sent a message to China as it signed an agreement with Australia to step up navy-to-navy cooperation, even as two of its warships had a drill with a frigate of the Vietnam People’s Navy in the South China Sea.

The Indian Navy’s twin moves to enhance interoperability with the Royal Australian Navy and the Vietnam People’s Navy came amid China’s growing maritime belligerence in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Indian Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh and the Royal Australian Navy chief Vice Admiral Michael J Noonan had a virtual meeting on Wednesday when they signed an agreement, which would serve as a guideline document to showcase the intent of both the navies to work together bilaterally and multilaterally. The broad scope of the guidance is focussed on developing mutual understanding, cooperation for regional security, collaboration in mutually beneficial activities and developing interoperability, the Ministry of Defence stated in a press-release.

The Indian Navy’s INS Ranvijay and INS Kora had a bilateral maritime exercise with Vietnam People's Navy’s frigate VPNS Ly Thai To in the South China Sea. The drill included surface warfare exercises, weapon firing drills and helicopter operations.

“The regular interactions between the two navies over the years have enhanced their interoperability and adaptability. This has ensured a quantum jump in the complexity and scale of professional exchanges,” the Indian Navy stated. “The bilateral interaction aims to consolidate the strong bond shared by the two navies and would be another step towards strengthening India-Vietnam defence relations.”

The INS Ranvijay and INS Kora celebrated Independence Day on Sunday, when they were on port call at Cam Ranh Bay, a deep-water bay on an inlet of the South China Sea and on the southeastern coast of Vietnam. Independence Day was also celebrated onboard two other Indian Navy ships, INS Shivalik and INS Kadmatt, sailing in the South China Sea after participating in a bilateral exercise with warships of the Royal Brunei Navy.

The INS Ranvijay is a guided-missile destroyer, equipped with an array of weapons and sensors, which includes Surface-to-Surface Missile, Anti-Aircraft Missiles and guns, Heavyweight Torpedoes and Anti-Submarine Rockets. It is capable of carrying Kamov 28 Anti Submarine Helicopters. The INS Kora is a corvette, fitted with Surface-to-Surface missiles and Anti-Aircraft Guns.

The South China Sea is a major waterway and the sea lanes in this region account for over US $ 5 trillion of international trade. It has been at the centre of a territorial conflict between China and many of its maritime neighbours, like Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia Though an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the 1982 United Nations Convention on Law of Sea (UNCLOS) delivered a unanimous decision five years ago rejecting China’s expansive claims on the South China Sea, Beijing has been steadfastly refusing to adhere to it.

The four Indian Navy ships were recently deployed on a two-month-long mission to South East Asia, South China Sea and the Western Pacific. Apart from the navies of Vietnam and Brunei, the Indian Navy warships will have bilateral drills with the navies of Philippines, Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia, which all have maritime disputes with China. It will also sail to Western Pacific to take part in the ‘Malabar 21’, a multilateral drill by the navies of the ‘Quad’ – a coalition forged by India, Australia, Japan and the United States to counter the hegemonic aspirations of China in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Indian Navy vessels have been holding joint drills with the US Navy’s warships returning from deployment in the South China Sea – more regularly since the Chinese People's Liberation Army’s aggressive move to unilaterally change the status quo along the China-India Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and counter-deployment by the Indian Army in April and May 2020 resulted in a stand-off.

New Delhi has also been concerned over the Chinese PLA Navy's increasing forays in the Indian Ocean and the communist country's bid to expand its influence in the region.