New Delhi: India, which is engaged in oil exploration projects with Vietnam in the South China Sea, is “carefully studying” the verdict by the international tribunal, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), at The Hague which on Tuesday ruled that China has no legal basis to claim “historic rights” to islands in South China Sea.
“India has noted the Award of the Arbitral Tribunal constituted under Annex VII of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in the matter concerning the Republic of the Philippines and the Peoples Republic of China and is studying it carefully,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, in a brief statement.
India along with the United States support freedom of navigation in international waters in the South China Sea. Incidentally, China is also wary about India’s strong naval cooperation and strategic ties with Vietnam in the South China Sea. China and Vietnam are also locked in dispute over the South China Sea, a huge source of hydrocarbons. China has been objecting to India’s oil exploration projects with Vietnam in the maritime region.
In October, 2014, just five months after the Modi Government had assumed office, India had signed a pact with its strategic south-east Asian partner Vietnam for participation in two additional oil exploration blocks in “Vietnamese waters” in the South China Sea. Hours after the pact was signed in October, 2014, China had hit back, warning that it would firmly oppose any exploration activity in the South China Sea if it undermines its “sovereignty and interests”.
