In the wake of the recent India-ASEAN commemorative summit to mark the 25th anniversary of India-ASEAN relations, the Indian government said early this week that it is ready to pursue defense cooperation with the Philippines and its neighbors in the South China Sea (SCS).
A Plan of Action for India-ASEAN Cooperation for 2016 to 2020 was signed at the summit in New Delhi last month, which President Duterte and other ASEAN leaders attended. Pritee Saran, secretary for East Asia of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, cited the need for military cooperation, including joint exercises.
At the same time, she said India, as enunciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, believes that “All disputes should be resolved peacefully through the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). There should be no room for the use of force to assert ownership of international waters which are for everyone.”
India has thus added its voice to the long-simmering dispute over the South China Sea between China and some ASEAN nations, notably the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei. These four ASEAN states, along with Taiwan, have claims on certain islands in the South China Sea, but China rejects all their claims, asserting that it has sovereignty over most of the sea as defined by a nine-dash line on a map of the area.
The United States has no interest in any of the islands but declares its right to freedom of navigation in the sea, which it considers international waters. Thus it periodically sends its warships sailing through the sea and its planes flying overhead, ignoring challenges from China.
Near the end of former President Benigno S. Aquino III’s administration in 2016, the Philippines won its case in the UN Arbitral Court in the Hague, which ruled against China’s claims. President Duterte has declared the Philippines stands by this court decision, but now is not the time to challenge China, he said. He has his local critics, including Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio who has repeatedly warned the Philippines may lose its claims because of this position of inaction and seeming compliance.
With its offer of military cooperation, including joint military exercises, India has taken a position in the dispute. We hope this new development will not add to the danger of actual conflict and violence in the area, but rather that it will strengthen the call for peaceful settlement of all disputes under the United Nations.
